


It had to be enough.

by SkyWarrior66



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, BAMF Haruno Sakura, F/M, Humor, Inspired By, Kakashi only slightly less, M/M, Multi, Sakura is going to bang her head against a tree, Sakura is so done, Sakura is the only one with a brain, The one where you and your soulmate share an emotional link, They're not at all subtle, blackkat, or observational skills, repeatedly, she may or may not enjoy being a voyeur, soulmate drabble, the boys are clueless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-19
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-11-02 14:38:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10946583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyWarrior66/pseuds/SkyWarrior66
Summary: Sakura knows she has two soulmates (she figured it out before they were even genin). Those two idiots are oblivious to her side of the link. Self absorbed assholes. Also, they're such exhibitionists. And not at all subtle.





	1. In which she lies to herself.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blackkat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Soulmate Drabbles](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8001085) by [blackkat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat). 



> So, this is inspired by blackkats's soulmate drabble series, chapter 42. Naruto is obviously not mine. There is a part two coming...probably. Soon-ish.  
> It's because of drabbles and my enabler/muse/love/damn-you-annoy-me-some-days. in fact all the days. she's not even here and i hear her voice prodding me along to write this, despite the fact she kinda-sorta hates this fandom.

She had figured out before either of the boys did, of course. she was the genius of this team, even if the others often overlooked her. It would take years for them to really acknowledge her as a person and capable team mate. She didn't hold out for them acknowledging her as a soulmate though any time soon though. Three way bonds were rare.   
A sunny girl by nature she often wondered on her darker emotions and thoughts, knowing of course it was her soulmates fault (and she is entirely blaming Inner Sakura from her younger years on them) for the emotional transference. She just didn't realize that the emotions belonged to two of them. Years of grief and misery and aching loneliness. It was why she started fixating on Sasuke in the academy; he had lost his entire family to that nut bar Itachi so soon after starting the Academy.   
She hadn't expected Naruto. Not at all. but it made sense, feeling that twin sensation of shock and please-accept-me-oh-kami-what-if-he-doesn't when their lips crashed into each other when they were 12. She still blames her overreaction on that-its not easy for a girl to know that she has to deal with two such drama queens. And these two were dramatic; icy and cold yet every move made just spoke of it-a tragedy. Naruto was even worse-his seemingly obvious emotions were shallow and thin and just barely covered his anger and loneliness. This is what she had to put up with.   
And she was still putting up with it. To teenagers and Jounin and those two tied to each other despite the forced ignorance they put up around each other for so long. It had taken Wave and Haku to warm up to their bond and finally accept it and stop fighting it (she was sure they hadn't noticed her side of the link's grief over nearly losing one of her soulmates-fighting with relief that one was still there). They hadn't left each other's sides since, despite their pitched battles of   
supremacy and rivalry (Naruto's response-typical of him- had been to cheer that he would have a sparring partner for the rest of his life that wasn't a pansy. Sakura liked to pretend that his words hadn't made her ache for weeks after that. )

Sprawled across the campfire from her, slouching together waiting for the meal to finish cooking, she learned to keep her envy hidden. She won't tell them. She can't. Its been years and they haven't figured it out? She's happy the way things are; they're happy, safe and whole and best of all she is still with them.   
(it was Naruto's words of not wanting a pansy soulmate that made her finally remember what she was doing for a career path and that she was the top kunoichi of her graduating class, dammit, and she was strong in her own way and she will prove it. For her. For them. She borrowed some of her blonde soulmates boldness and marched right up to the newly instated Hokage, Tsunade and demanded to be taught. Now she was better than Tsunade as a medic and even as a fighter, thanks to Sasuke and his taijustsu abilities and him constantly kicking her ass in spars until she could kick back.  
She doesn't want that aching loneliness and grief to come back ever again.)  
She rolls her eyes at their idea of a hidden touch of fingers and gripes about dinner never been done if they don't stop being such sickening lovebirds. Naruto laughs at her, sunny and bright, "Mah, Sakura, the food will cook. And don't be jealous!" Agony and happiness slice through her at the same time and she stifles it to nothing (thank kami for meeting Sai a year or two back-his help on controlling her emotions is still invaluable) and glares back at him, eyes promising death by campfire embers being shoved down his throat if her dinner is burned. She is not the chakra powerhouses like they are and she needs the food to keep up with them, and she tells them so.   
Sasuke snorts softly, an improvement on that annoying hnn he made as a pre-teen, "I'm sure you will manage either way, you have all these years. Or Naruto will carry you. He's useful for that."  
Naruto squawks indignantly over that and Sakura laughs, "oh, he carry you around often, Sasuke-chan?" Naruto recovers from the insult and laughs at his known soulmate, who rolls his eyes in response trying to hide the fact that the tips of his ears are burning and Sakura loves that she can still get to him like this. She loves their team and dynamic and that only Naruto and her are let inside that shell of a boy that turned into a man. 

Dinner is eaten and Sakura takes first watch. She rolls her eyes at the not very subtle looks Naruto gives Sasuke or the weak excuse of having to water some trees before bed and she settles in for the two hours of making sure they all wake up. Her boys stumble into the woods together, tripping each other because they are still immature enough for her to want to beat them for it at least once a week. No, more. Totally more. She feels the rush of desire moments later, the edge of want and the happiness of each other's touch and she smiles ruefully. Nearly 7 years and neither of them had truly looked at her like that. Naruto had kept asking her out on dates until that fateful day at the Academy, not even seeming to know what one really was-but he hadn't looked at her like she was the only thing in the world. That he saved for Sasuke.   
Sakura had heard of platonic soulmates happening, and figured that was what she was to them. She just had to take that accelerated heartbeat, that edge of adrenaline and the ghostly   
sensation of fingers across her skin and shove them deeply into a box (she had stopped fawning over Sasuke after those two idiots had figured it out-it being only right to do so by society's standards, she said at the time-Ino was a slightly harder sell. She merely piggybacked on their emotions for each other now at night. Or in the middle of damned broad daylight in a training ground for half the Academy students to see. Iruka-sensei was never the same after that.).

There were so many types of intimacy and love, and she got to feel that from them-all types but the romantic or lusting kind and that was OK. Even if sometimes she longed to follow them and tell them that she knew exactly where Sasuke's hands had been seconds ago (and could she please get some of that for herself please and thank you) and could tell them that she knew exactly how happy it made Naruto to feel him beside him and how safe Sasuke felt holding onto him. 

It would be enough, to know they were happy and safe.  
It would be enough to make sure it stayed that way, Akatsuki and Madara lurking around corners be damned. She would do anything to ensure that happened.

It would be enough. It had to be.


	2. In which she realizes.

In the end it wasn’t. Only weeks after her little pep talk to herself, Sakura was forced to admit it. She was not happy.   
It was not enough. She was pretty sure they were unaware how utterly segregative they were towards her. She prayed they were-she was not sure she could handle it if they were doing it deliberately. Sakura was a busy woman; a kunoichi, top medic of the village and one of the best hand to hand combat specialists now. She did not have a lot of free time, and what time she did have she liked to relax on her own, meet with Ino and the others and hang around with her team outside of training sessions and missions. 

If only her two soul mates didn’t avoid her when she did have free time though. So busy, she had taken a long time to notice it. However, like a seed in the forest finally given light and the chance to grow, her own thoughts of inadequacies and loneliness had borne fruit. She started noticing how often they brushed off her suggestions for extra training or social events, how they would look at each other with inside jokes that all couples have. That was normal she supposed, it wasn’t long after the supposed plans were to take place she felt the emotions indicating a sparring match of some sort or emotions tinged with lust and love. It was how they still seemed to think she wasn’t enough. Not enough to keep up to them in any way except to trail after them and heal their wounds. If the Kyuubi or the curse seal didn’t help out in some way first.   
And they bloody well took the opponents she wanted and left her with the drags. She was amazing and one of the best in the world now and they couldn’t see it. 

The idea of leaving had been in her head for a while. A nice long term mission, filled with healing or diplomacy or spying or something different. Get out of the rut of work, trying to keep up and getting rid of her own sexual frustration using random fellow shinobi at times that happened to be coincided with Naruto’s and Sasuke’s usual sex times (Lee had amazing stamina by the way).   
More than one of her friends had joked about her seemingly high sex drive and tendency to grab the nearest man. Ino especially, had cracked jokes that her soulmate was certain to be jealous at her experience. Sakura had snorted and blamed it on said soul mate while tapping her temple with a finger. No one knew-they thought she hadn’t found her mate yet. So many hadn’t after all. They all just smiled and said at least your soul mate was alive; so many had suddenly felt their emotional links to their soul mates go cold. More than one had simply followed them in the absence.   
Sakura knew that soulmates didn’t always work out. Some of the greatest books and movies done were on the tragedies of the meeting of soul mates. On either sides of the battlefield. On opposing sides. Of already being married and of being sick and lonely and choosing someone else. And then sometimes your soul mate was an asshole pyscho and really, the butcher next door is a better option than that (here’s looking at you Hidan-I bet that is exactly what happened). As it was with all things in life, in the end it just wasn’t fair and there were no happy endings. 

It was only after so many times of saying that you were ok, that everything was fine as it was that you realized the words were the embodiment of dissatisfaction and they turned to ash in your mouth-choking you, ripping the capability to speak the words again. 

That is when the false smiles become the new platitude you notice that your eyes are empty and there is nothing you feel you can do. It’s when your soul mate’s emotions are the only ones you truly feel and you only feel nothing on your own. It’s then that you realize something is wrong. 

And sometimes, it’s that time when others realize it too. 

***

First its Tsunade-shishou. “Are you taking too many shifts at the hospital, girl? You look worn out.” She orders Sakura to take some time off and she is ignored-she sneaks into the hospital labs and merely focuses on her poisons and antidotes knowledge and experimentation instead. Kankurou has been sending her letters about them lately and the correspondence is inquisitive and lively and encouraging in its complexity and notes of hope (it helps that Temari drops in often as ambassador and likes to mention that Kankurou is pining and has been since she saved his life two years ago). At least someone values her knowledge and skills and how they can be used in both their styles of combat. 

Secondly, it’s Ino-pig. “Hey, Forehead. You’re going to develop old age lines before you're old if you keep that expression-it’ll stick and you’ll definitely never impress your soul mate with your beauty then.” Sakura snipes back and they bicker with a familiarity and rehearsed lines and Ino-pig forgets what she was complaining about to begin with.   
Her boys complain that she’s not as much fun as she usually is (so she smiles more and punches them more often-maybe memory loss will shut them up). Lee says her youth and passion is fading (she may or may not give him a wedgie with that damned green spandex in revenge-either way he walks funny for a week). Her parents say she always looks so busy and that she needs to stop by more so she makes herself busier and raids their fridge when they sleep just to irritate them since her mom hates grocery shopping. 

It’s Kakashi-sensei that finally stops her cold and makes her realize it's just too much. It’s not fine. And that she wants more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may notice its different in writing styles. This one is truer to my usual style. The first chapter was an experiment that I both loved and was dissatisfied with.


	3. In which she leaves.

As usual, Kakashi makes her work hard during a spar. Despite his lower chakra levels and the presence of her soulmates in Konoha, he is still considered the best shinobi Konoha has to to offer in terms of skill and abilities. Experience, Sakura thinks, is the reason; there was little he had not done in his career. She had only ever beaten him in a spar once, though she often got very close during spars. He knew all her moves after all, and he always seemed to have a new one to bring out; Kakashi of the thousand jutsu indeed.  
"I almost had you there, Kakashi-sensei." She's smiling, the rush of endorphins making her giddy on her almost victory. If it hadn't been for that obscure earth style jutsu and taijutsu combo, he would have been the one pinned right now.  
The rare smile on her face, her stomach sore from the attack, her chakra already seeking out the damage to heal herself and she hears the words that make her heart freeze in its chest. 

"You should tell them."

Sakura's smile slowly drops to nothing, her eyes opening to match the intensity of his mismatched gaze. "Excuse me?"  
Kakashi sighed in his usual put upon way. Sitting up from where he is still straddling her, he pulled down his headband to cover his Sharingan. "You need to tell Naruto and Sasuke that you're their third."  
Numbness sweeps through her, making her feel weak and unable to move. Horror sapping any of her usual ability to deflect. How had he known? NO ONE knew. Not a soul had figured it out or even came close to the truth. Protests built on her tongue; her usual clever deflections and lies mixed with humor good enough to throw off everyone and make them think that they were idiots to even think of such a thing. All that escapes her throat is a tiny sound, choked off and pathetic. 

"How?"

He sighed again. At least she wasn't denying it. He didn't need to keep her pinned anymore, so he rolled off of her, sitting away from her in the clearing, his lower back pressing against her hips where she was still sprawled on her back. "I've seen triumvirates before. Rare, but still there. I'm surprised Tsunade-sama didn't notice this before me, as she is the third of not just the Sannin you know. Why do you think that her and Jiraiya have let Orochimaru get away with so much in the past? They cannot bear killing him; to kill your own soulmate...it's a terrible thing. To feel that link disappear and knowing you are responsible? Most cannot handle it."  
She manages to find what is shown of his face, trying to read it. He looked tired and drawn. His usual placidity or fake eye smiling was gone. The unasked question hung in the air, bitter and heavy.  
He glances to the side, meeting her wide gaze before looking forward again. "My father. Platonic soulmate, of course. I felt the blade dig into his belly. Felt him die. I still walked into the house, knowing what I would see. Knowing I was responsible for it; shunning him along with the village when he chose to be a better man instead of a better shinobi."

She felt tears gather in her eyes, blurring her vision. She wanted to say something, something to help him. But her throat was frozen. Her lassitude and words would do nothing on an injury over two decades old. Her body somehow felt the strength to move, coming up on one side to curl around his hips with her legs and and torso. An odd sort of hug, but he was an odd sort of man. Moments passed and then a hand, fingers, brushed her knees, rested there, accepting the comfort for a twenty year old soul deep wound that had never healed, only scarred over weakly. 

"You should tell them."

Her eyes closed, squeezing shut painfully to contain the burning in her throat and eyes. The scent of the green grass and dark earth beneath her filling her senses. She forced herself to breathe. A touch, a finger grazing her temple. "I've tried. So hard. They don't see me. I want them so bad. So bad, Kaka-sensei. I tried making it obvious, or setting up situations or even hinting at it. They needed time, at first, to even accept each other as people much less as soulmates. I stayed quiet then, and then it...it never changed. By the time they were as they are now, it was too late. There was no room for me. I'm just their team mate, a medic and they do not see me as anything more. Not even as a real friend."

His brow furrowed, his suspicions and observations being confirmed painfully. When had his sensei's son become so narrow hearted? He was so willing to run around everywhere saving everyone, even from themselves, but could not see a soulmate who was literally the only reason why Sasuke was still around? Sasuke has nearly gone to Orochimaru and only Sakura had been able to predict his movements and stop him with a few words. To remind him that Naruto was there for him and was that not better than the power the snake Sannin promised? To avenge one's clan with your soulmate was perfectly acceptable; they are an extension of you after all. She had pushed them together, pushing them into loving rivals that forced them grow better and better until now, there were so incredibly few that could match them in ability. She was one of them, in a different way. Kakashi had watched them grow as people and shinobi and still worried over them. But at least now he could count on them surviving almost everything. 

The finger grazing her temple shifted, and his palm cupped her cheek, his thumb rubbing her temple lightly. Aside from her marching up to them and baldly informing them that they were blind idiots, she had done everything she could have. His gaze fixed on a mountain in the distance, wondering if even doing that would change anything. They didn't value her now. Why would they do that as acknowledged soulmates? Would they even believe her? Those two had been wrapped up in each other for so long it seemed there was no room for others. It was only because of Naruto's tendency to turn enemies into allies and Sakura's explanations and insistence that the boys not be hermit with each other that the village even knew anything about them. They owed her all of their friendships, really. All of their bonds. 

Her voice whispered out, an old trite to his ears, filled with resignation. "Perhaps just their platonic soulmate."  
His gaze cut to hers sharply, his voice rising slightly. "Platonic or not, you deserve to be acknowledged. You're suffering Sakura, your spirit is fading. I would have left you three to your own business if it was not for this."  
She curled around him even tighter, three fingers wrapping themselves into his shirt, anchoring her. There were no tears, but he suspected that she felt she had cried enough for her team mates. Tears were only so good after a while. "You won't tell them, will you?"

Despite her haggard and broken appearance, her voice warbled, but was still filled with the determination and strength that made her so legendary across the nations. "I won't be pitied or doubted." Conviction was something Kakashi had always understood. He nodded, knowing he couldn't force her. And it was not his business to be doing the revealing instead of her. "What will you do then?"

A heart beat of silence, then two. "I'm leaving."

His blood froze in his veins. Images of her as a missing-nin filled his vision before he blinked and forced his suddenly tense body to relax. "Leaving?"  
Her voice sounded hollow as she answered. "The Kazekage has been asking for some time for a medic of my caliber in poisons and general healing to come to Suna. Ever since Sasori...he wants more of his medics to be able to do as I did then. It will be a diplomatic training course; I only gave Tsunade-shisou my acceptance of the mission a few days ago. He has been asking for so long-and I wasn't willing to go then. I am now. I'll be gone for at least six months. Gaara was getting very insistent, you see. And I...I can't stay here right now."  
She didn't miss his sigh of relief. She couldn't help but let out a quirk of a smile, the cheek beneath his palm pulling up with her amusement. She could guess where his suspicions went at her slightly dramatic proclamation. "I'm leaving the day after tomorrow." 

"Mahhhh, so soon Sakura-chan?" She snorted in reaction.  
"That's rich, Kaka-sensei. I have stuff I had to pack and my apartment to deal with. And it wasn't urgent. But I want to be gone....I haven't told them yet. My parents know...and Ino. But that's it. I don't..."

"Then do not. They deserve nothing you will not give them, even if it is an explanation. If they ask me, I will tell them after you are gone."

She sighed heavily. Cowardly. It was cowardly. But it was what she needed. It was not wrong then. "Thank you Kakashi-sensei."

She soaked in the silence. It was...nice. Nice to finally speak of it. She felt rubbed raw somehow but lighter. Guess her medical textbooks on the mind arts were right after all. She finally shifted when she noticed the sun reaching its zenith. Pushing into his palm gently, she made to get up. Halfway there, she suddenly flinched slightly and her cheeks flushed. She glanced at Kakashi to see if he noticed. Of course he did, his one visible eyebrow arching in question. 

The flush on her cheeks spread slightly and her gaze darted away before coming back. "The boys...they're uh..yeah."

His eye rolled. "Mahhhh, to be so young. In the middle of the day no less."  
Her eyes widened and she couldn't help but giggle. "You are sounding old, Kaka-sensei."  
"Now that's just mean, Sakura-chan. That is uncalled for and vicious."

Another wave of heat and lust washed over her. Getting to it quickly this time, they were. Her core clamped down in response to the pleasure. He saw the change in her features, her body shifted slightly and suddenly a vaguely awkward 'halfway to standing up' pose seemed sexy and alluring. He averted his gaze quickly. 

"Ne, Kaka-sensei, sure you don't want to say goodbye?" The touch of her fingers under his chin drew his gaze back to her. A flushed face of invitation and affection. He had heard the rumors of her man eating tendencies, not caring as long as she was safe and happy. And as he had started to piece things together, he had thought 'good for her' more than once, for taking charge of her own body and not letting her devotion to the boys let her miss out on sex. He just never thought she would ask it of him. She was his equal. His former student.  
"You sure you want to ask your old man of a sensei? My experience may ruin you for others." Voice light, joking, intense in its own way. 

A light scoff. "So confident, Kakashi? It would be nice to not have to take the lead for once..." The air charged, feeling as intense and heavy as when his chidori was activated. Something shifted inside him and he was lost. He took her hand, pulling her to him. A shunshin later they were sprawled across his bed and lost to each other. 

***

Less than two days later Haruno Sakura walked out of the gates of Konoha. At her side was Shikamaru, accompanying her for the journey and his brief visit to Suna for his duties as ambassador to their allies. And his fiancee and soulmate Temari had been complaining that he never visited. They walked for a few feet before Sakura suddenly started grinning.  
Shikamaru glanced to the side at her and sighed. "Excited for such a long term mission? you Could be gone for a year, depending on the advancement levels of their medics, you know. Sounds troublesome." 

She shifted her heavy pack and her fingers grazed her kunai pouch on habit. "Maybe, Shika, but it will be full of new and different experiences. And that makes all the difference."

She would start with her now. She would focus on her and who she was without the troublesome duo that she had been chasing after and cleaning up after for nearly a decade now.

She did not need them to be Sakura, Shannaro!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well....another chapter posted. This is turning out longer than I thought. Also this chapter is angsty-where did my usual humor go?  
> I'm all for sex scenes, but it didn't fit in to the flow here. That being said, a flashback musing or scene of her and Kakashi is totally possible.


	4. In which she finds relief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew *fans self* longest and steamiest chapter to date. Salaciousness ahead, dear readers.  
> Thanks for all the lovely comments!
> 
> This part of the story has been the driving goal of my imagination once I got the idea to write this. Sakura being in Suna and with the Sand Siblings featured big in my musings. And Kankuro totally took over this chapter. He was always going to be a big part of the story but he decided to just run roughshod over the original dialogue and character development.   
> Also, in kabuki makeup methods, purple means aloofness and nobility. Explains why he's such a stuck up prig in part one of Naruto.

She wanted to kill them. Murder them. Eviscerate them and hang their entrails as decorations. 

Instead she banged her head against her worn desk and made vague whimpering noises. 

“Well, that’s one use for that large forehead.”

Sakura stilled, pausing at the realization she was no longer alone. She blearily looked up to see the object of her new ire. Affronted ire even. “That was completely uncalled for, Kankuro. Vicious and mean and terrible.”

He snorted, the purple face paint stretching on his skin and he grinned in response. “Well, blame Temari. She happily gossips everything she hears while over there for diplomatic reasons-” he did air quotes with his fingers over the diplomatic part-”and unfortunately for you, Ino-chan is that lazy bastard’s team mate and happily talks about everything under the sun. Including her favourite insults for you.”

Sakura growled slightly; merely one more reason to give her an earful when she finally went back to Konoha. “It doesn’t mean you have to repeat it, dimwit. That’s called bullying. And the last person to bully me was crushed by a rather large boulder. That I threw. Are you sure you want to keep using that insult?”

Apparently she wasn’t as intimidating she thought. He only threw his head back and laughed. This is what happens when you save a guy's life, she mentally moaned to herself. All intimidation capabilities are gone. Just because a girl takes some pride in her work and doesn’t want to see it go to waste by an untimely fist sized hole in the chest. Even if he really deserves it some days. 

No matter, she would complain to Gaara, and use her big green eyes during the pouting part and Kankuro would have sand pouring out of his shorts for weeks. Sakura would think the puppet user would have figured out after last time not to piss her off, but apparently not. She idly wondered if Gaara could mix itching powder into his sand before shoving it into various articles of clothing of his big brothers. 

Or she could just defenestrate him right now. He would survive the four floor drop to the ground. Probably. He was a shinobi. And it was Suna. The ground was softer here. All that sand and grit and crap about. Yeah, that picture was appealing to the rosette more and more each second he kept snickering at her. 

He finally noticed her eyebrow ticking slightly in annoyance and controlled himself. She was fun to rile, but dear Kami the temper on that woman once she got going. He cleared his throat and sat in the chair in front of her desk. “So, what caused the head banging this time?” 

She rolled her eyes at him, knowing exactly what he was doing. “Your idiotic medics. Its been 4 months and they’re still almost useless. What the hell are you teaching these people?”  
Kankuro shrugged, a frown building slightly as they broached a more serious topic. “I would like to say they’re just a special case, but quite frankly our medics have never been the highest of caliber. Chiyo-sama was a special case to be quite frank, and she was a puppet mistress far longer than being a medic. With her gone now...no one has been able to fill the gap she left, as small a role as she played in the day to day medic community. She didn’t teach often either in her pre-retirement years and avoided most of the village when she did retire.”

Sakura slumped in her seat at the reminder of the Elder Chiyo and the memories of fighting with the prickly old woman. She had been amazing in poisons and making them; not so much on drawing them out. She shook her head and laced her fingers together over her belly. “I keep asking what chakra exercises the medics receive in preliminary training, but there is a lot of disagreement. Do they not receive the same basic training? I can’t find a trace of a formal early stage curriculum either. Its as if someone noticed that they have decent to great chakra control and then threw them in a room together to puzzle it out with a few anatomy scrolls some days.”

Kankuro shrugged, “Can’t say for sure-I’m a puppeteer. I only know about poisons, which Suna is famed for. That’s why they made me your liaison here; the staff is at least familiar with me coming and going and I am considered one of the more powerful shinobi here.” 

Sakura nodded, frowning as her mind whirled over the puzzle. The Suna medic-nin were frighteningly efficient at identifying and even synthesizing poisons, but most lacked the training or aptitude to become antidote experts. Their surgery skills were proficient, but they wasted time and resources due to lack of proper equipment and training. Their village hospital seemed more like a triage center than the kind of medical facilities she was used to in Konoha.  
She had spent the last three month simply learning what they had available to them and the skills of all the hospital staff, casual or full time. Trying to teach them had been like herding cats and Gaara had heard more than one rant at their expense from her. The medics here were all self-important and arrogant for skills they simply did not have and blocked her at every turn due to her outsider status-despite their Kazekage’s orders. 

She sighed wearily, sinking down into her seat. Even here she was considered less, even from similar reasons. If this kept up she would simply have to challenge them to a brawl fight and rip them all new ones through sheer fear and bruising. She had already tried to peaceful and sweet method. Her patience was running out and the medics here had simply thought they could walk all over her. Not that she had allowed it, but she hadn’t fixed their misconceptions as brutally as she could have, choosing to see if they would come around peacefully. The problem was that many of the senior medics had survived from the last Great Ninja War, and their attitude and disdain to their former enemy was colouring their judgement.  
Kankuro watched her puzzle it for several moments. He and his siblings had already discussed the achingly slow progress at the hospital and had decided to not interfere. At least not yet. The medics and Suna people needed to respect Sakura for who she was and not at the Sand Siblings browbeating and threats. The three were very fond of Sakura, and not just a little indebted to her, and they had no desire to make things more difficult for her here. He hoped she figured it out fast, how to gain his people’s respect; things had improved since Gaara took over, but the economy still sucked. Having renowned healers would help their economy and potentially increase tourism or merchant variety. Not to mention getting his people used to outsiders as well; Suna was rather xenophobic and that needed to change if things were to improve for all of the village. Not to mention it has been slow going convincing the Wind Daimyo to hire his owned damned countrymen to complete missions of shunting them off to Konoha. They were receiving more at last, but not nearly as much as they should have been and did receive before Kankuro’s father pissed off the Daimyo over a decade ago. 

He eyed her tired form, knowing she had spent days locked up in this hospital and in the library trying to determine where his people had gone wrong in training. She was a dedicated one, he would always say, and in this it was especially true. Re-organizing an entire village’s medical system from the ground up was a daunting task on its own. The resistance she faced simply made it that much harder.  
He made up his mind and jumped to his feet, startling her out of her brooding. “C’mon Sakura-chan. Time to get some food and sake into us.”  
She wryly smiled at him, already settling in for another all nighter mentally. “Maybe another time Kankuro, I am very busy here.”  
He shook his head. “Not this time; you have been putting off a decent night on your own since you started here-time to get out and see the village and enjoy hanging around with the Village’s greatest puppet master!”  
Sakura snorted. “Oh, and who might that be? I don’t remember meeting said Master” She damn near busted a gut at his incredulous and affronted expression.  
He rubbed his chest dramatically, “Ouch Sakura-chan, that really stung. But none the less, dinner time it is and I will gladly educate you on my combat prowess while we eat.”  
She looked at the paperwork and scrolls piled around her office and winced. She had zero fucks to give at this point, and frankly she couldn’t remember the time she had last gone outside other than for a bit of training and running back and forth to the library. She stood up dramatically, making it seem like a huge effort. “Fine, fine you win. But only if you talk about anything else other than yourself. How about you tell me about Suna more instead, I missed most of it last time I was in the area.” 

He grinned in victory opened her office door for her, waving her through. Operation Charm Her Sandals Off was a go! And honestly, she really just needed a friend at this point, the poor thing. He knew how surly and obstinate his people could be to outsiders. 

***

Sakura could barely remember the last time she had felt so relaxed. Kankuro had taken her out for a rather elaborate meal at one of the better places in Suna, though had happily informed her that it wasn’t ostentatious at all due to the fact that it was so damned homey inside and the food was comforting more than fancy. He kept her regaled with tales of famous people of Suna in the past and delved deeper into the culture. He kept the conversation on the lighter side of things as she needed to absorb and relax, not turn over his people’s more negative tendencies in her mind as she strategized ways to work with them.  
It was only after taking a long walk through the village that he found out she was part of the team who helped the Snow Country princess reclaim her throne. Considering said princess was also the the famed actress Yuki who played Princess Gale in the movies series; he appropriately fangirled out. Well, he might have gushed a bit, Sakura had spent twenty minutes laughing at his expression of awe and subsequent ‘fangirling’ as she said. He felt no regret for calling her out on her large forehead after that comment. Men did not ‘fangirl’ after all-they showed appropriate levels of enthusiasm.  
He dragged her back to the family house to make her tell him all about the behind the scenes facts on the Princess Gale movie that featured the Land of Snow while they watched it. He had seen her roll her eyes a plenty, but figured it was worth it considering how many times she laughed. He noticed the melancholic cast to her eyes more than once when she told him the story, but didn’t know from what. He wasn’t quite rough enough to bluntly ask it after all. Temari would kill him if he made her cry. 

That was still more frightening that what Gaara would do to him if he did. Even Gaara was kind of scared of Temari. 

It was a pity Suna was so damned patriarchal. Temari would have made a fine Kage had Gaara not stepped up to the plate. As it was, he was his little brother's heir. He glanced at Sakura sideways, studying her profile and features in the dim movie glow. A tinge of regret slithered through him. Due to Suna’s xenophobia, he couldn’t even think about having a real relationship with her. Kami forbid Gaara fall in battle and leave him with the mantle of Kazekage, he would never be allowed to have an outsider as a wife. The Elders were already making noises about arranging some sort of marriage for Gaara-he knew he was next on the list if that lazy bastard finally got a move on it and asked Temari to marry him officially. They couldn’t have an outsider’s blood running their precious village now could they? A kid from those two would halfway guarantee that. He gritted his teeth and looked carefully back at the TV screen, noticing her muscles twitch from his gaze.  
At least he could be her friend. And maybe more, once in awhile. That would be overlooked. A soft huff drew his attention before a cool palm covered his painted cheek and jaw, drawing him to her luminescent face. Her skin, so damned pale for his region, glowed in the dim light and her hair seemed to give off its own warm light. 

“You’re making a girl wait, Kankuro-kun. And that’s not polite.”  
He groaned, wanting to immediately cover her hard trained form with his own and make up for that lapse but forced himself to speak instead. “Sakura-chan, I can’t offer-”  
She shushed him, running a thumb over his purple lips that indicated his station of near nobility within the village, “Shika informed me of the political climate on the way here. Don’t worry about it.” She used the hand on his face to guide him down to her, watching the widened eyes of surprise before they settled onto her face. 

It felt odd, kissing a man with so much makeup, but it didn’t smear or rub off on her, thankfully or taste like much. She might have ruined his shirt in an effort to get it off first otherwise. Thankfully, his hesitance faded with her assurances and he gave himself to the task of kissing her thoroughly. She knew where she stood in this village; Shikamaru-kun had been very explicit about certain things during the three day trip to Suna four months ago, and perhaps at Temari's urging he had informed her of several key things. Kazekage expectations were one of them. She already counted Kankuro a friend, it would be nice to add this level of intimacy to that friendship.  
She moaned when he finally urged her lips open and was surprised by the skill he demonstrated when he did so. She was used to a different kind of man perhaps, Konoha were nice people after all, and soft compared to most out there. Konoha could be fierce and ruthless, but it wasn’t their default setting. The pressure and heat of the kiss shocked her senses, as his hands firmly traced patterns on her still clothed form. He tasted of sand and earth and sun and the various plants he used. Her mind automatically catalogued the types of plants as she pressed up against him harder, grinding herslef against him. He took it as a sign that she was ready for the next step and broke off the long, wet kiss to pull off the top layers of his uniform, leaving his upper torso bare. She wasted no time in reaching up to touch him, marvelling at the difference of skin tones the desert people had compared to her home. Most people of Konoha were pale with some olive tones mixed in. Suna was a good deal darker in tone, though not nearly as much as those from Kumo. He was stouter than she was used to; the majority of her lovers in Konoha had been lean and wiry, used to jumping from tree to tree in a show of agility and precision and walking on flat, stable and compact earth. In Suna, even walking was a workout for Sakura. Slippery stones and sliding sand caused her to use nearly every muscle in her body to maintain balance, speed and simple movement. It showed in its people; they were curvier and stronger as woman and stouter with muscle as men from the continual struggle they had against the land they called home. 

Kankuro made a small noise, tracing the hem of her shirt and she smiled, allowing him to shuck it off. She took off the bandages covering her breasts herself. She smiled at his inquisitive gaze as he also noticed the differences; creamy and incredibly pale skin, her breasts small but round in form topped with light pink nipples. Those seemed to fascinate him the most, judging by his near reverent murmur. “So soft and light…” He traced the edges of one with his thumb. She shivered in response to the touch as his gaze and simply pulled him back to her again. The soft touch seemed like a distant memory moments later as he progressively lost his control, nipping and sucking hard a trail from her mouth to her jaw to her neck the her breast.  
She wasn’t used to this level of roughness in sex, but found she enjoyed it, returning the strength and feeling pure pleasure when he groaned appreciatively for her strength and touch. It was far less restrained, love play in Suna, apparently. The small bruises she could feel forming on her skin were a testimony to that. Sakura cried out when he dragged his teeth over her nipple harshly then consoled it with his tongue before sucking it in deep. Her nails scoured his shoulder blades and he arched his back, letting out a pleased huff of air. He switched nipples then bit and sucked a trail down her flat and muscled stomach. She wanted to flip him off the sofa and take him on the floor, but he felt her muscles tense and splayed his free hand (his other busy holding a thigh open where he was currently tracing tracing Kami-knows what with his tongue on the sensitive skin of her inner thigh) across her diaphragm, using a bit of chakra to hold her in place. Her muscles strained against his chakra before she allowed him to take control. Pleasure flooded her, more mental than physical, that he was able to keep her in place even if only for a small amount of time. 

In a test of strength she would always win, against nearly every shinobi in the Elemental Nations, because of her augmented strength. But Kankuro was a puppet master, a skill that required fine chakra control and he would at least be able to hold his own against her strength for a time before her superior control and skills dominated his. She mentally made a note to harangue him or make Gaara force him to take at least introductory medic training before he distracted her by pulling at her shorts. She lifted her hips eagerly to make it easier, bracing her weight on his shoulders and the back of the sofa. Clothes gone, he didn’t waste time in nuzzling and licking at her labia. She hissed in pleasure, bracing herself on the sofa and wrapping her fingers around his wrist with intense pressure at the sensation.  
He wasn’t a tender and slow lover, his teeth rasped carefully and bluntly on her labia, as his lips and tongue wasted no time in creating a circuit of pleasure and mild pain. Sakura could easily become addicted to the new and intense sensations. Kakashi had been the best lover she had been with so far, experienced and exact in his techniques. The hours she had spent in his bed (and on his kitchen table and in his shower) had been absolutely wonderful and filled with pleasure. But Kankuro was getting very close to outstripping him so far. He was wild heat and strength and lacked the finesse and control that Kakashi had. As wonderful as her old sensei had been, it had felt….almost distant. He had been tender and caring and had done whatever she had asked of him, but he was walled off despite how much she knew he cared for her. 

She impatiently tugged the hand splayed across her abdomen up to her lips, sucking in two fingers before biting them hard. A hiss and mild flinch, a heat filled brown gaze met hers. Lust and intrigue swirled in them and she pulled him up from between her thighs to cover her completely once again, hands immediately trying to pull his pants down as she fastened her teeth to his jaw and bit in reproach. He snarled softly and dodged, swooping down to bite her clavicle hard, “Dammit woman, I’m trying to prepare you. So impatient.”  
She finally had enough with his pants and simply ripped them down one side, “Damn straight. Impatient woman wants to be fucked hard right now”

Kissing her hard, he wasted no time in doing just that, spreading her thighs wide for access, he half kneeled, half crouched on the sofa and floor for leverage. She didn't hesitate once the pants were ripped off some more and took his cock firmly in hand (enjoying the harsh moan from him) and lined them up together where he quickly pushed forward. Technique mostly disappeared as they thrust and moved against each other, Sakura bracing herself against the punishing and glorious pace using the sofa back and arm. She thanked every kami or spirit she could think of that he was long enough to repeatedly hit the posterior fornix, the back wall of her vagina behind the cervix.  
She was also incredibly thankful no one else was home right now because her cries were becoming steadily louder as they heaved desperately against each other, the pace becoming near brutal in force and speed. Neither of them would last long and they knew it; and when he collapsed on top of her and drawing her tight into his arms, his strength fading as the pleasure built up in him, he made sure to grind downwards with his pelvis to stimulate her clit with nearly every thrust. The increased pitch of her moans and cries answered his efforts as it turned animalistic in ferocity and her nails scoured his back and ass before she finally cried out and bucked up against him as she orgasmed. He managed to hold back for a dozen more thrusts to prolong her pleasure before he couldn’t contain his let out a hoarse shout of relief and pleasure, grinding against her hard enough to bruise as he came deep inside her. 

Gasping to regain her breath and equilibrium, she marveled at that they hadn’t fallen off the sofa during all of this. Or broken it. Either one was possible considering how much chakra augmented strength both of them had used. She laughed, a burst of noise and grinned. She had completely lost herself in the sensations that he had caused alone, pleasure that had been hers only and shared by no one except the man still inside her. It had been her and her alone wanting and driving the sex with such ferocity as she had.  
The physical distance between her and her soulmates made the emotional link more of an echo than the usual onslaught of emotion. And it was glorious to have sex purely for her.

Sakura nuzzled her face into his neck and nipped. He groaned slightly, “give me a minute, Insatiable-chan. I just need to make sure I’m still alive.”  
She giggled softly and swirled her hips, enjoying the hitch in his breath at the sensation. “Does Suna have enough water to manage a shared shower?”  
She felt his heart rate nearly triple in speed in the space of less than three seconds. “Shower? No. A shallow bath? Yes.”  
Oh yes, a bath was good. While falling in the shower was near impossible for shinobi who could stick themselves to the wall for hours, bath sounded lovely as well. She rolled her hips again and clenched her vaginal muscles tightly, delighting in the twitch his cock gave inside her as it started to swell again. “Well then, lead the way.”


	5. In which her lack of presence is felt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Feedback galore! Thanks for the love, dear readers!  
> Alright, just so you know, I'm thinking this will take about three more chapters to finish. Maybe. Probably. Hopefully.  
> As promised, Naru/Sasu side of things. Sasuke ran roughshod, the little drama queen, barely let anyone else speak.

Its four days of not seeing her before Naruto chirps out “where’s Sakura-chan?” 

Sasuke blinks and looks around minutely, as if just realizing she is not at her usual place of leading them from the middle around or standing on Naruto’s other side as usual. A snort was heard nearby, and a glance showed Ino staring at them as if they were idiots. 

“Baka Naruto, have you forgotten already? Forehead left on an extended mission. How do you not remember her telling you this?” Her look of disdain was genuine, and Sasuke could not see any tells for dishonesty. He blinked and glanced at his soulmate instinctively at the feel of shock, hurt and slight fear. 

Naruto seemed to be in a state of shock, and speechless, a rare treat for his friends. He glanced at Ino again, “we were uninformed.” Her puzzled look changed to amusement after a few seconds.  
“Not surprised, you two are always disappearing for hours on end. She didn’t have much time to say goodbye before she left.”

“B-b-b-ut where did she go? How long? With who? What for?” His soulmate adorably (and annoyingly) flailed about with his questions. 

Ino snickered, happy to have had one over him at last. Damn powerhouses and their cockiness. They made great front liners in times of war or impressing potential clients to gain more; it was people like her family that used the more subtle and less flashy arts to save their village time and again in both times of peace and war with information and manipulations. It didn’t stop them from saying ones like her were weak or merely the average chunin. “She left several days ago with Shika. To Suna? How the hell don’t you know about this? I only know its going to be a long term mission. Looks like you two idiots are going to have to do without your better half guys. Not to mention your medic. Try not to injure yourselves too badly on the next few missions, boys.”

She laughed and flounced off, in search of her other teammate or Ten-Ten. Idiots. Serves them right for ignoring Sakura-chan for the last few months. 

Naruto seemed happy to stay in a state of shock, his jaw working slightly. Sasuke glanced around, watching for people around them. Finally his soulmate spoke, “neh, Teme...why didn’t she tell us? What were we doing four days ago? Or five?” 

Silence. “Training. Mostly training. We slept out in training ground 31 one night.”  
More silence and Sasuke watched his face, his body language, watching the familiar tics and twitches, the plays of emotion that matched the emotions he could feel coming across the link. Finally he felt that resolve form and Naruto looked up at last, unhappiness and confusion seeping out of his pores. “Let’s go find Kakashi-sensei.”

Sasuke nodded, despite his bat crazy tendencies, Kakashi knew pretty much everything that went on in the village. It only took an hour of rooftop chasing and such to find their sensei sitting on a bench near the bridge they had all met on for their first meeting for their team, so long ago. A frown twitches his lips before smoothing over again. This somehow...seemed ominous. Naruto would laugh at his suspicion, mock him for it, but his eyes and instincts would be roused and everything within him ready to protect or attack. Sasuke stepped slightly closer on the next step, his arm brushing against Naruto’s for a breadth of a pace before resuming regular walk. 

Naruto’s back straightens in response before they are within shouting distance of the silver haired jounin. “Oy! Kakashi-sensei!”  
Their former sensei, now team commander on group missions, looks up from his smut book from where he is sitting on the bench. “Naruto. Sasuke.” He summarily went back to reading and ignoring them as he flipped a page. Sasuke did glare then. He could swear that Kakashi had read this book at least 50 times. Maybe more. 

“Oy! What’s this on Sakura-chan being gone on a long term mission to Suna? When did this happen?”

He could swear that Kakashi sighed. “Believe it or not, Naruto, I do not assign the missions, so I can’t say I know exactly when this happened. All I know is she left a few days ago and was only given a few days warning to get ready for the mission that could last up to 18 months, depending on the state of things there.”

A whine gathered in Naruto’s throat, adorably so in Sasuke’s opinion. “What? Why so long? Surely its not that bad? What is she even doing anyway? Healing someone?” 

Another minuscule sigh. The book was lowered and his single eye fixed on them. “Naruto. You are in training to eventually take over as Hokage. Tell me, what is the most annoying thing about being the leader of a village?”

His nose wrinkled and Naruto loudly complained, “paperwork!”

“Exactly. Sakura is literally rebuilding their medical operations and training facilities. She is not just training them, but she has to look over every inch of their operations, equipment, storage, facilities and patient areas in order to bring it up to standard to Konoha. The process to start that will take months alone, if they are all abiding and eager little medics, then it will take only about 9 months. If there are any issues at all, then that number will be nearly doubled. Maybe even tripled if things are stalled or go wrong.”

Sasuke spoke at last. “All that for a hospital? Shouldn’t that be easy to do, just fix their training in a few areas and buy some new equipment?”

Kakashi restrained himself from rolling his eyes. Spoken like a spoiled princess. “There are literally forms and paperwork that must be done to even change other pieces of paperwork or procedures. Frankly, it makes the Godaime’s paperload look small in comparison. At least for the first while-most of her stay there probably. Once things are suitably changed, smoothed over and streamlined, it will become only about ¾ of the Godaime’s paperwork on a daily basis.”

Naruto’s eyes looked ready to bug out. Sasuke could only guess at why, he had only seen the usual amount of paper when receiving missions. It didn’t look like that much. A couple stacks here and there on the desk. 

“B-but that’s….that’s huge! Ba-chan spends, like, nine hours a day on paperwork alone! And that’s before mission briefings, meetings and her work at the hospital!” 

Sasuke’s eyes widened minutely and turned towards Naruto in shock. He had been unaware she did so much. It looked like she threw people out of windows and drank all day to him. That was what his lover was signing up for? He suddenly got a bad feeling. Maybe he could convince Naruto to delay on taking the hat in a couple years. 

“Why was Sakura sent, then? Would Shizune-san not be a better option?”

The look he got in return seemed like he was being patronized. “You are aware that Sakura is the best medic in Konoha, right? In fact she took over the running of the hospital over a year ago from the Godaime. Tsunade-sama only helps out in complicated surgeries and performs reviews when she has time. Shizune is her personal assistant and the department head of poisons and research.”

“How is Sakura higher up than Shizune?”

“Because she is better. She is the head medic nin. Shizune will be taking over many of Sakura’s duties until she comes back, but it is temporary. While a very fine medic and probably one of our best, third perhaps, she specializes in poisons more than anything. Sakura can perform all medic duties from childbirth to complex surgeries to antidotes to research flawlessly. And she can even do massive amounts of paperwork and other bureaucratic crap I don’t care to think of with ease. She can also navigate political channels with ease as long as they don’t piss her off too much.”

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged looks. Naruto scratched his head, “Huh, I had noticed her name was on more of the forms these days. Just thought she was helping out in between missions.”

“Sakura essentially lives in the hospital. Has since she took over. She made the deal that she would take it as long as she was able to keep going on missions with us in order to keep us safe with the Akatsuki out there.” 

Sasuke pondered his words. She was busier, they had noticed that, but figured it was research at the hospital or a new type of medic training. They had let her take all the time she needed, as it would only keep her safer if she got better at fighting. She had been lagging lately, and he had been quick to criticize-but if it had been because she was essentially doing three jobs....it was no wonder. A small flare of guilt swirled in his belly. He had been...particularly vicious a few times during missions or training. Angry that she was not as fast as she should have been, that she stepped in front of him during some fights to take an opponent, that she always seemed tired (he had even remarked that she should be chasing after boys less if this was the result according to the rumours and start training more-she had slapped him and told him that it was none of his business) and that she never seemed to be enough. She was always distracted and her eyes glazed over frequently-she had even taken to carrying a small notebook that she wrote in frequently. 

Now he knew why. He felt shame, anger and pain course through the connection and didn’t even think before taking Naruto’s hand. Why hadn’t she told them? Naruto voiced his thoughts to Kakashi, sounding crestfallen and bordering on anger. 

“She did. You boys were busy making cow eyes at each other and crowing about your new combination jutsu to anyone who would listen. Apparently Ino-chan heard you guys ignored her when she told you the news and she browbeat everyone in your friend group to not actively say anything to see how long it would take for you to figure it out. I hear Shino won the bet-that you would have to be told far down the line about it...he was off by a few months though. I placed the best on three weeks before you guys figured it out, probably by being poor detectives. Guess I was a little optimistic.”

Naruto flinched. 

Sasuke looked away, staring at the rocks lining the small creek under the bridge. 

“Well, if you two don’t mind, I have to go avoid Gai. He keeps mentioning using some sort of spandex for the next challenge and I would like to put that off as long as possible.” 

They barely noticed his departure, his laconic form moseying away. They just stood there for a few moments.  
“She didn’t say goodbye.”

“I do not blame her”

“Teme...she’s...Sasuke, she’s gone. For at least a year.”

“Hnn.”

“When did we become such assholes?”

“Approximately ten minutes after Wave.”

“Feel...empty.”

“Me too.”


	6. In which she is tested.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, two chapters in one day. This is what happens when i am trying to study and am off work for a bit.   
> Also, the first part is a letter from Ino.

“Hey Forehead, life is grand and bright in Konoha. Bet you miss it sooo much. Sick of sponge baths yet? How much sand has managed to get into your shorts? In fact, what else did, come on!!! Spill all the gushy news! Is it true what they say about Suna men? Hey, maybe you should try to snag the Kazekage? He’s an odd sort of adorable? Though he wears more makeup than I do....perhaps not then. Shika came back a few weeks back after you left full of sarcasm. At least he was in a good mood after seeing Temari! I don’t know what those two do (and please never tell me no matter how much I beg if Temari does a gossip night) but at training the next day he had marks on his lower back. I swear they were whip marks. I may have freaked out a bit and shrieked and accidentally punched him into a tree. He said I was taking after you too much. I hit him again despite the near compliment. Please, I’m so much prettier than you, Forehead.   
Also, your idiot teammates are being all mopey. Well, Naruto is. Sasuke still has a stick up his ass (can you believe we all used to hope he was our soul mate back in the academy? Bleh). They keep looking around though, it’s really weird, like they expect an attack to come from every direction. Maybe the cloud freaks are finally making them feel worried? Have you heard a team came across one of the members? One member was killed, and the third had the carry the second back. She survived I hear, but she lost her arm-the jutsu she used to get them out of there pretty much blew it off. Any chance you know any puppet techniques yet? Maybe she could use a prosthetic arm like that Kankuro guy uses that mummy thing to help her out. Bet you could whoop his ass in a few years if you practiced enough after setting up the hospital-how is that going? Have you killed anyone yet? This is why they sent you-far too nice-should have killed a few more nurses here. Or your team mates-they deserved it for not noticing you left on a mission for four days afterwards. Then they had the gall to be all upset over it. They should stop fucking in woods and scaring children with the noises and pay attention to other people.   
Neh, Sakura, don’t kill me over that last bit….even if you know its true. By the way, security has been picking up here, since that Akatsuki guy I mentioned (do they have girl members? They should-we are so much cooler than men. We would rock the cloak and nail polish so much better) ANBU are more paranoid than ever and Shino has been tapped along with many of his clan for special patrols. The rest of Team 8-minus Kurenai as she is still on maternity leave-have also been tapped for patrols and searching for places for ambushes. Anyway, they have increased my duties at the hospital, and I have finally become more than mediocre as a medic-it only took you leaving to let me shine, Forehead, stay away any longer and we won’t have any need of you! Get back here before they make me do paperwork. Anyway, sorry it took me so long to write, five months is long, especially when you’re knee deep in blood in the hospital.   
Ino.   
P.S. I found my soulmate. That idiot you spoke about-no wonder I thought mine was dead-that was part of ROOT and they feel nothing there. He looks like Sasuke-I nearly cried when that happened. I’m not telling you how it occurred. It is too embarrassing for words. I am not marrying him. No way.”

\---

Sakura snorted, vague horror mixing with her laughter. This was precious. Who knew Sai was Ino’s soulmate? She should have insisted on introducing them-Sai had declined and pretty much ran away at the idea of meeting more confusing females. She blinked twice-he couldn’t have. He really couldn’t have known-right? She shook her head and resolved to get the story when Shikamaru came back. Or she would ask Temari to...subtly grind it out of him. She would enjoy that. 

She re-read the letter quickly and shook her head. She would answer back later when she had time. Maybe next month. That sounded about right. She folded up the letter and stashed it in her bag before surveying her desk again. Geh. 

Her stomach rumbled and she blinked in surprise at the clock. Lunch time. She stood and went to the cafeteria. The conversation quieted as she came in, and she subtly gritted her teeth at the slight. She made her way to the line up and looked over the offerings. Spicy food indeed. The curries and spice levels here were higher than she was used to, but that was fine. What was not fine was the changing of the menu; it had been more varied when she started. Now it all featured the spiciest dishes of the Suna culture. The looks she often received when eating only confirmed her suspicions. Just one more rebellion to squash. She sighed mentally, refusing to show any sort of weakness, and selected the plate she hadn't tried before. The nurse in front of her looked almost gleeful at her choice and she hoped no one poisoned it. 

They wouldn’t. 

Right? 

She glanced again at the plates and saw all meals came from communal pots of the type of curry, so they wouldn’t risk killing everyone at least. She subtly extended her chakra to cover the utensil in her hand, checking for any sort of contaminant. None. She did the same for her plate. Nothing. She selected a glass of milk as a precaution against the spice (as she quickly determined that water did nothing and only made the heat in her mouth worse in the beginning) and selected a seat with some of the intern medics and new nurses. They had been somewhat quiet to begin with, the table only half full, but now they were silent except for the sounds of eating. 

It was after the first bite she realized what they did to the food. 

She kept her face straight as she could and her chakra answered the call before she even had time to consciously think about summoning it. She loved her automatic chakra healing and protection jutsu, and rarely more than now. If it wasn’t the near instantaneous rush of nerve soothing and healing chakra, she would have been utterly fucked in the little game/war they were playing with her. They must have added three times the normal spice levels to the curry. She had nearly spit it out, but simply covered the reflex with a flex of her jaw and started to chew, then swallow, her chakra leading the path of the bolus of food down her esophagus and into her stomach, lining the smooth muscle of the organs before the curry would injure it in anyway. 

She had taken several more bites much to their disappointment when one of the other medics let out a half shriek and spit out her food from the unexpected heat. A glance at her bowl showed that they had selected the same curry as her and were paying the price for it. She quickly stood, taking control of the situation with her commanding tones and quickly treated the woman’s tongue, then went to the kitchens and thoroughly interrogated them in front of all present in the mess hall. She was humiliating them, but it was important-asking why the medic had been injured and if they were aware what would happen if their charges experienced gastric distress during surgeries and were they aware they were literally risking patients lives with their pranks or mistakes. If there were no medics available due to illness from food, then how did they expect to treat emergency cases?

By the time her voiced stopped ringing out, the kitchen staff was fully cowed and some near tears. She gave them the one chance, as the next infraction would involve a full review and investigation. Not that she didn’t already intend to notify Suna’s internal services anyway-she may not have been the subject of this prank for all she knew, but the staff in front of her displayed none of the cues she would expect for spies or traitors. A few had glanced at the medics and nurses behind her, so she suspected that they were merely the pawns in this. She threw the dish away herself, dumping it down the drain (while surreptitiously taking a sample for analysis) then took her seat, still fuming. 

For a moment she forgot she had ordered said tampered dish and took another bite. She felt none of the excess heat, her chakra having created the necessary depth of layering to protect her mouth and internal organs while still letting her experience the actual flavours of the dish. She looked up at the silence and was surprised by the looks of awe they gave her. She took another bite, then another, quickly finishing the meal and then deposited the tray in the cleaning racks. She carefully took notes of the reactions her fairly brazen move had made amongst her supposed colleagues. Surprise, shock, awe, slight respect and anger. 

Well, not too bad all things considered. The vague respect, mostly from the younger ones there, was a nice surprise. She started back to her office, checking in on certain areas of the hospital along the way and readying herself for another 6-8 hours of paperwork and planning.   
It was three hours later before her door received a timid knock. Calling her permission to admit, one of the intern medics stepped shyly. She made sure to paste an open and kind expression on her face. 

The girl bowed and smiled softly, her fingers shaking slightly. Sakura felt her expression soften into a true smile; she reminded her of Hinata-chan. “How can I help you?”

“Ano...I...I was wondering how you were able to eat the food? The other medic, she couldn’t at all and you didn’t even blink after a whole bowl.”

Well, at least she didn’t stutter. Loved Hinata, she did, but had little patience for the stuttering. “Oh, that was a simple thing really. Why did you want to know?”

A blush. “I noticed it when you came, that you were surprised by the heat of our food, yet adapted so easily. I was just wondering...I felt...I mean, I’m just wondering.”

Sakura’s gaze sharpened and she cocked her head. “What did you feel?”

She hesitated before she spoke, swallowed but did so. “I felt chakra usage from you, but I couldn’t see how it was done.” 

Sakura sat back in her chair, surprised by the revelation. She used such a minuscule amount of chakra it should have been nigh undetectable. Unless-”are you a chakra sensor, Kansei-chan?”

Kansei’s eyes widened at how Sakura remembered her name from a very brief introduction and discussion of career paths over two months ago. “Ano...I don’t know. Maybe? I can just feel when someone uses chakra close to me is all. I can’t see it or anything, it’s more of a feeling or an intuition.”

Sakura grinned at the girl. “That’s amazing and a very useful skill to have, I can see why you became a medic. And you are right, yes I did use chakra. I lined the soft tissue and muscle of my organs in order to protect them, but allowing me to enjoy the flavours as they were meant to be tasted as.”

“Organs? You mean...all of them?”

“All of the digestive track anyway. I did increase my metabolism a bit in order to allow it to pass through me a bit more quickly as well and to help neutralize some of the more harmful parts of the spices, but yes, my entire digestive system is currently lined with a very thin layer of chakra for protection while not interfering with any of the natural functions of the individual organs.” 

Kendai stood, jaw dropped and eyes wide. She could only gape for several moments before she recovered and suddenly snapped into a low bow, nearly startling Sakura with the sudden change and intensity of the movement. “Please! Teach me, Sakura-sama!”

Sakura felt her own face express her surprise. Well, she hadn’t expected this. 

She gentled her voice slightly, “Kensai-chan, I would have you understand that for me to have time to teach your properly, you would be assigned as my apprentice essentially. I would have to start you off with incredibly intensive theory work before I even allowed you to start the more in-depth chakra exercises. After you mastered the theory, you would assist in many types of medical procedures, either with me or with medics I choose to show you certain procedures to ensure you are taught right. And since I am not from Suna and will be returning to Konoha sometime in the next year, this apprenticeship would become even more intensive than my own, in order to bring you up to an acceptable level I would be comfortable leaving you at. If you did not reach that level I would potentially even ask the Kazekage-sama to allow an exchange program to occur so that you would finish tutelage with me. And all of the above hinges on you being able to demonstrate you have the necessary potential for fine chakra control needed as an advanced medic nin. Can you handle that? All that I mentioned? Take your time and-”

“Hai! I mean, sorry to interrupt, but yes, I can do all that. Half of my family died due to improperly trained medic nin and difficulties in surgery. I chose this path to stop that from happening to others. I will do all I have to in order to be the best medic nin in Suna.”

Kensai bowed again, after she blurted out her confirmation, a furious blush on her face. Sakura smiled and considered the intern’s words. Well, not what she expected at all. But...useful. An in as it were. Kensai was fairly popular or at least on good terms with so many of the other interns and medic nins. Either this action would cause the girl to become an outcast, or it could open new playing fields and allow Sakura to wiggle in under Kensai’s words of praise for her new ‘shisou’ and plant herself in the more positive side of the hospital for once. 

She was still going to have to rip the old administrators and medics a new one, but Kensai could be the bridge for the younger, more accepting crowd that didn’t have memories of war against Konoha to taint their opinions of her. She would have to talk to Gaara....but he had already given her carte blanche for this mission. This could work. But first, to test the girl.

“Alright, meet me on training ground 3 at 7pm tonight. We will test you to see if you have what it takes. Don’t eat too much at dinner, you might throw up otherwise.”

A gulp was her answer and she smirked, then dismissed the girl. Who said she couldn’t emulate both of her favourite sensei’s with her own apprentice?


	7. In which she reflects

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Gaara tried to become a shrink this chapter. i think he would actually do very well at this in real life...  
> and things move along, right at the end. Boom.

Gaara looked up from the report Sakura-san had just brought with her. She was currently sprawled across one of his office chairs sunbathing. Or sleeping. He almost hoped for the latter as she needed it. A shadow of a smirk flitted across his normally serene face as he remembered the rage she had exhibited when storming into his office three months ago. She had just taken on an apprentice, one of the Suna orphans, and the medics and nurses in the elder age demographics had immediately taken offense. 

But not just against Sakura, as she would have been amused more than anything over anything they pulled. But they went after her apprentice, who was only 14. Hell and the Shinigami had nothing on her then in her wrath and search for justice. He had been severely disappointed in his people; had they learned nothing from the war they once had with Konoha? If you deal with one Konoha nin, expect another at your back to finish you off. They worked in teams for a reason and it was for nearly that reason alone that they were considered so formidable.  
She had nearly beaten the instigators of the physical attack on her apprentice to death. Or at least, they felt like that, when in reality there was so little physical damage that most had said they were lying to the ANBU about being attacked. Who knew nerve damage was so debilitating? 

Gaara resolved to never truly piss off Haruno Sakura. The only reason why he was more scared of Temari in comparison was because Temari lived with him. At least Sakura was hardly ever around in comparison. Minus their weekly tea and report meetings. 

He focused on her again, only to see her slight smirk. She hadn’t missed his very subtle flinch when she had explained exactly what she had done to his senior medic’s nerve and chakra symptoms at the time, and had never let him live down his rather substantial terror of her. He huffed so mildly one would have thought it an exhale, which only caused her smirk to grow. He changed the subject. 

“How is your apprentice, Kensai, feeling now?”

She graciously let him get away with it. “Better. Nearly fulled healed. At this rate though, I will probably take her back with me to Konoha to finish her training. The two months of healing to her cranial areas and the trauma to her eye took longer than I thought it would to heal in this climate considering the eye transplant I had to do. She is all done her theory learning though. Now it’s all practical for her. I have her assisting me in surgeries now, another two months I will allow her to partner with me to perform them.”

He nodded, glad her apprentice was healing. The idiotic senior medics had thought that the beating of a genin-turned apprentice and removing her of her eyes would be a good message to send to the Konoha transplant. Not so much, as they learned. Four were now jailed or dead, and one of the four had donated an eye for an emergency eye transplant. He had arrived at the scene not long after Sakura had, drawn by the utter chaos and damage she had inflicted upon the instigators, only to see the 12 people who had attacked Kensai or watched it being done motionless on the ground. The only visible injured one had been the youngest main attacker and his eye had already been gone. Kensai’s ruined eye had been a splat of jelly and white flesh on the ground, nearly gelatinized from the attack. 

The ANBU had reported that she had taken all 12 of the attackers out in less than two minutes before plucking an eye at seemingly random before she started healing her apprentice. Kensai had only been her apprentice for three weeks at that point. Thankfully the girl’s scars, knife drawn words of ‘whore’ and ‘traitor’, had been fully healed and there were not even faint scar lines anymore. Even Gaara had felt slightly ill at the sight of her ruined body; a mess of bruises, blood, jagged cuts and the missing eye…

Kensai looked as if she had never been attacked, three months later. And her dual coloured eyes were now filled with strength, determination and rage. She would be a formidable shinobi once she was done her apprenticeship. Speaking of which…”How long do you project the remainder of your mission will be?”

Sakura straightened up and her mask of professionalism came to fore, “well, now that the main troublemakers are dead or in jail, the rest of the medics and nurses have folded over like grass in the strong fall winds. They have all started taking the lessons I finally finished drawing up. 87% of your medics are now considered acceptable to my standards in chakra control. The remaining amount will require at least another two weeks to reach the 93th percentile of chakra control. I have started them all on learning the theory of several surgical procedures. The supplies and equipment I ordered several months ago have started to arrive and they will all be trained in proper use, problem shooting, basic maintenance and repair. I project another 3-5 months before they up to Konoha’s standards of medical care. However, I propose sending a rotation of medic nin from Suna to Konoha to do a form of internship at our hospital so they see what they are working against. Perhaps that will open their eyes in ways my lectures will not. Seeing is believing after all. You will have to speak to Shisou though. I have already sent her an abbreviated report on my progress and my recommendations. Also, perhaps some Konoha medics could come to study poisons here as an exchange program under the umbrella of our village’s alliance.”

Sakura took a deep breath after finishing. Gaara had nodded along, his eyes showing his understanding as he formulated his own plans for his village based upon her information. She smiled at his crease in between his brows. She was genuinely fond of the red haired boy-Kazekage. Whatever. His unflappability reminded her of Sai even as his passion for helping others reminded her of Naruto. She ignored the mild pang in her chest as she pictured his smiling face. She had been gone for nine months now. The longest she had even been away from them before had been for 6 months, when the boys had gone on a training trip with Jiraiya. They had completed training trips in erratic time frames, sometimes only returning for two days before leaving again, as to keep Akatsuki guessing on Naruto’s whereabouts. Now it was her who was gone on a long term mission, learning about herself and her abilities as she did.  
The boys had come back from their final training trip a year before she left Konoha. They had come back powerhouses; the top tier of shinobi stood with them now. 

What would she be when she stepped back into Konoha? 

She was already so strong, everyone said so. The best medic in the Elemental nations. Strongest woman (and just shy of being the strongest person) in said nations. Top one percentile of chakra control. Her taijutsu was exemplary; few could match her below jounin level. She had buckled down and became proficient at genjutsu, though it was by no means her specialty. And she was proficient with her kunai or shuriken, but relied on her chakra scalpels for battle. Perhaps she needed to learn a weapon style or two. 

Her genjutsu could be brushed up upon for sure, and perhaps enough to make her one of the few genjutsu mistresses around. But that path required a level of dedication she could not afford at this time, perhaps after she had returned to Konoha. Weapons though....enough practice in the next 5 months and she could be a near mastery with at least one. But which one? Sasuke had a monopoly on swords, and Kakashi technically did as well, though his tanto was slightly different. Naruto used no weapons at least, hardly needing them with his claws and chakra attacks. 

She wished Ten-Ten was here to consult with. That girl probably had the ideal weapons for everyone in her acquaintance picked out in anticipation for this situation. Perhaps she would send her a letter...though that would take about a month round trip as long as Ten wasn’t out on a long term mission. She scowled; maybe Gaara or Kankuro knew a weapons master who could advise her on it. Or Temari? Fuck not knowing anyone here. 

The sound of a throat being cleared startled her back into awareness. She looked up to see Gaara’s raised...brow. As he had no eyebrows. She smiled sheepishly at him, “sorry, what did you say?”

“We’ll discuss your lapse in a moment. First of all, when do you think the exchange program would begin?”

“Tsunade-shisou would have to confirm, but preferably after I am complete here, so I can present what is needed for training to the Godaime as well as the hospital staff. They need to know what they are working with to most effectively train your people. I do not know when the Godaime would want to send a team from Konoha to learn poisons here, but surely around that time or just after.” 

“Alright, I will message her by falcon and draw up some introductory plans for Temari to take to her and negotiate with. I will send her a falcon next week, if you could clear up your schedule for a few afternoons this weekend and early next week, it would be appreciated.”

She sighed slightly and went over her mental calendar. Ouch. So ouch. Guess she would be working overtime times a thousand again. Fuck a duck. “Alright, let me know which dates specifically and it will be done barring any emergency situations in the hospital.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it, i do. Everything you are doing for Suna, and how trying it has been for you so far at the hospital.”

She blushed lightly at his earnest expression. She smiled happily back at him, “anything for you Gaara. Pretty sure Naruto would kill me if I ever refused you anything, anyway.”

A considering look came over his face, making her heart speed up slightly. She mentally berated herself in disgust. Even now, she was terrified of being found out as her boys’ soulmate. Of not being enough. She gritted her teeth lightly, recalling the mental list she had made to help combat her self inadequacy issues. Everything good about her roiled through her mind; strong, determined, smart, excellent memory, brave, loyal, tenacity, passionate, ability to perceive, observation skills were high….she shuddered mentally. She needed another one...another one...one more to add to her list every time she she felt crippled by failure or inadequacy. Accepting. There, that was another one. She was accepting. Tolerant. She was. 

Strong, determined, smart, excellent memory, brave, loyal, tenacious, passionate, ability to perceive, observant and accepting. 

She opened her eyes, her jaw relaxing as she calmed and reassured herself. Gaara was examining her. She blinked and tried to recall if he asked her a question. She raised her eyebrows imperiously, hating the show of weakness she had just let him see. 

“Yes?”

Gaara folded his fingers and placed his elbows on his desk, his chin resting on his fingers. “Sakura.”

Damn his voice. “Yes?” she made sure to sound confused. 

He sighed slightly, most likely at her stubbornness. “You are troubled. More so than I would like as one of Naruto’s teammates. As one of my friends. I noticed it not long after you arrived. It has not affected your performance here, but I have noticed it when we have private discussions. I would like to think myself a friend of yours, and someone you can confide in if you desire. Is there any way I can help?”

Her fingers shook before her shinobi training came into effect. “I appreciate your concern Gaara, but no one can help me but me in this case.” Her soft smile still held a hint of steel, demanding he not challenge her on this. Kami only knows what she would do if he pushed or showed too much sympathy if he knew the real reason. Compassion could crumble the strongest barriers. Or her control. 

They sat in silence for several moments, both unwilling to give an inch in the silent war over his concerns. 

Gaara carefully evaluated his position; he could lose her trust if he pushed, and from her defensive tone, and the change in her posture (even if was so slight) when he had said Naruto’s name...he wanted to groan. Man problems. What the hell did Naruto do this time? He briefly thought to his brother, glad that at least her and Kankuro had been clear with each other on the friends with benefits and there was no issue there. There would be no...well, no worries of a triangle becoming some sort of odd shaped romantic nonsense. He shuddered slightly at the thought, grateful that he and Temari were so far successful at stalling his advisor's attempts to marry him off to someone of their choosing. 

He finally nodded to her, and changed the subject as they still had much to discuss. He would drag Temari around one of these days and drop a hint of Sakura needing some ‘girl time’. That should do the trick. All ills could be cured with chocolate, ice cream and girl chat, Temari always said. Then she tried to convince him to draw on eyebrows. That had not ended well. 

Bidding Sakura goodbye nearly two hours later, he scribbled a message for one of his aides to deliver to Temari. That should be enough to get the ball rolling indeed. 

***

It was nearly midnight when Sakura finally stepped out of the hospital on the same day of her meeting with Gaara. She hadn't eaten since the gyoza Gaara had served with tea nearly 7 hours before and her body was feeling it. She scrubbed her hand across her face to increase blood flow and get rid of some of the bleariness in her eyes. Her emotional link twinged; making her stop suddenly in surprise.

It had been so long since she felt such a strong emotions from their side of the link. A part of her immediately soaked into it, revelling in their presence and comfort. Her mind screamed. Not now. Not when she was doing so well without them. Not when she was finally doing something for her. Bile climbed into her throat and she automatically channeled chakra to reverse the physical effects of her mental and emotional stress. She forced down the panic. She was having a panic attack-she recognized it from her medical experience. She breathed, sending her chakra to her brain, the medulla oblongata part that controlled her respiration and heart beat. 

A minute later she was fine. Physically she looked perfect. Inside she was a wreck. She need the next five months to get better. So she would not slip back into her old rut when she returned. She wasn’t scared of them. She was scared of losing herself again. 

A hand landed on her shoulder, startling her to let out a shriek, her body moving in response before her vocal cords finished making the sound; chakra gathering in her fingers to pummel through anything that would harm her. 

Temari stood there, smirk as always on her face. The only sign of her unease to Sakura’s reaction and attack was to lean back and plant her feet slightly different. The chakra on her fist faded before it could make contact with Temari. Sakura jumped back several feet, and grimaced. “Didn’t see you there, Temari.”

“No shit. You’re edgier than a bag of sand snakes. When was the last time you slept?”

“You probably don’t want to know. Is that food for me?” She nodded to the previously unnoticed bag of take out. 

“Temari held of the bag and grinned, her eyes closing in amusement. “Hell ya, sake and rice balls and spring rolls. Girl time tonight.”

Sakura grinned back, exhausted, but she needed something other than work to think about. Besides...sake. She would pass out after two drinks probably. A letter was waved in her face, Temari trying to shove it into her hands. “Here this came today.”

She nodded and accepted it, opening it absentmindedly, “hey, do you know any weapons masters? I need to add something to my repertoire.”

Temari nodded, falling in step with the still fumbling Sakura and her letter, “yeah, sure. But why don’t you try puppet work? You have the chakra control for it? Aren’t you primarily a close distance fighter now? Why not make puppets your long distance component to round it out? Kankuro would be happy to teach you I bet.” She winked at the slightly blushing pinkette. 

“I’ll ask him, but I want to keep my options open.” She finally pulled the letter free of the envelope and cursed the heaviness of her fingers. The conversation with Temari on types of weapons she should learn occupied her until they reached her apartment door, she unlocked it and gestured her inside. “Get comfy, I just want to read this quick.”

She unfolded the paper quickly and skimmed it before paling and reading it again, her heart nearly stopping in her chest. 

“Sakura,  
They figured out they had another soulmate a few months back when they experienced a large emotional and raging emotional spike. Gaara sent an update a few weeks ago that both read-it was about the attack on your apprentice. Sasuke finally grew a brain and figured out the time matched with the emotional spike they felt three months ago. They connected it to you. I convinced Tsunade to keep them both in the village for now and let you decide when you want to see them. I don’t know how much longer she will resist Naruto’s demands to go to Suna.  
-Kakashi. “

She glanced at the date and cursed. He had written this two weeks ago. That's why she had felt their emotions so strongly earlier. Her boys were coming. 

Or it was a huge coincidence. Fuck a duck.


	8. In which she is at peace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters again in one day...well 24 hour period! About one or more chapters til this is all done, people.  
> So the first part takes place less than a week after the end of the last chapter. The second part is about 4 months later.

It was in a meeting between Gaara, Temari and herself that Gaara looked up from his green tea and in such a casual tone, mentioned that “Naruto sent me a letter by express hawk. Apparently he is angry that the Godaime is refusing to let him leave the village to come see his soulmate. I was understandably confused as I thought Sasuke never went anywhere without him. Is there something I should be worried about, as both of your friends?”

Fuck. fuckity fuck fuck fuckity fuck. She was going to obliterate Naruto next time she saw him. Punch him into the stratosphere. Temari choked on her tea, spraying it indelicately. Gaara merely raised his sand over the food and tea, saving it from being contaminated by his sisters spit and masticated treats. She coughed and hacked and wheezily gasped, in awe of Sakura. 

“Is that why you suddenly grabbed that nutbar Lee (she ignored Gaara’s frown at this description) and literally lept three stories into his apartment window one day while I was there? Those two were going at it?”

Oh my Kami. No, just no. She did not want to have this conversation. Sakura sputtered.  
“What? No-”  
“Wait, what? Those two morons are her soulmates?”  
“What the HELL? Where did you come from Kankuro?”  
“Apparently they are.”  
“You have my sympathy girl.”  
“Stop using my office for napping and avoiding your paperwork, Nii-san.”  
“I don’t need your damned sympathy! Stop petting my hair before I break your wrist!”  
“Stop hiding behind me. My sand will not shield you.”  
“This is better than a movie”  
“Temari, my life is not a soap opera. Stop drinking tea and looking at me like that.”  
“No way, this is the best.”  
“So much for you being my friend.”  
“I am your friend, for this reason alone I am enjoying this so much.”  
“That is a dreadful excuse, Nee-san. I mean Temari-sama. I’m sorry.”  
“Wuss”  
“I don’t want to hear that from you, Miss-lady-who can’t-admit-to-her-soulmates.”  
“I will kill you.”  
“I am impressed by you just grabbing a guy and throwing him into his bed though. That’s hot.”  
“I don't want to know your sexual proclivities, Kankuro. Stop.”  
“Heh heh, you could hear him shouting how youthful and precise and agile she was for sailing perfectly through the window with him and landing next to the bed.”  
“Oh Kami, please…”  
“Only next to the bed...that's even hotter.”  
“Stop now.”  
“I have rarely felt the urge to use my Sand Coffin more than I have now.”  
“Could you?”  
“...and you could totally hear them going at it from the ground. Lee is LOUD!”  
“Ok, that’s kind of gross.”  
“I’m leaving. I may even defect to Kumo.”  
“Bee-san is just as bad. And he raps.”  
“Oh Kami, why did you remind me, Gaara?”  
“Friends help each other out and remind them of their follies at timely intervals.”  
“You’re evil.”  
“Not anymore.”  
“Don’t call my brother evil.”

Sakura dropped her face into her hands. She wanted to kill them all. Except Gaara. He could live for now. Maybe. Why did Naruto have to involve Suna in this? Couldn’t he have waited and kept his mouth shut? She glared at the finger that had been poking her for the past several seconds. She followed it up to its kabuki painted faced owner. “What, Kankuro?”

“Temari says you want to learn puppetry?”  
“What?”  
“Not now, little brother, she’s looking like she’s going to either kill someone or cry.”  
“Shut up Temari. And maybe. Your puppets look really bulky though and I need to be agile, so maybe instead smaller weapons.”  
Kankuro frowned and rubbed his chin, somehow missing the T shaped makeup on his face. “Let me think about it.”  
Gaara cleared his throat, bringing attention back to him instantly. “If we could get back to the matter at hand. Sakura...do you need help with those two?”

Damn him. “I can handle it.” Now the other two Sand Siblings were frowning as well, concern lacing their features. Temari glanced at her brothers before speaking, “are you sure? Did they...do anything to you?” 

Sakura sputtered, appalled at what Temari insinuated and the scowls that instantly appeared on the male's faces. “What? No. NO! They would never harm me!”

Kankuro growled slightly and muttered under his breath. “As if we would let them get away with it. You can stay here if you want.”

Gaara rolled his eyes minutely. “Don’t offer political asylum without your Kazekage’s permission. And Sakura can take care of herself.”

“Thanks Gaara. I would kick their asses if they tried. And they haven’t.”

“Probably because they’re too busy fucking each other to notice anyone else.”

“Temari! That’s-enough. Just enough. All of you. It’s fine and I will deal with it when I go back to Konoha.”  
Gaara folded his hands and frowned again. Had he stopped this entire conversation? Sakura couldn’t remember. “Is it wise to allow it to fester? It will be at least 3 months before you go home. I am sure we can spare you for two weeks to go deal with this and then resume your mission.”

Sakura shook her head firmly. “No, hell no. I have put too much of my life on hold for those two blind bastards and I refuse to do so now because they finally figured it out and are having childish tantrums.”  
“They really had no clue? All this time?” Kankuro sat down on the edge of his brother’s desk and snuck a small red bean cake. 

So much for closing the subject. She sighed and met Temari’s sympathetic gaze. She was glad the older woman was not of the hugging type or she would be halfway begging for one. “No. Their emotions always masked mine, when we were young as I learned control far quicker than they did and matured. I swear they're still five for all the emotional restraint they have.”

“Even the Uchiha?” Temari’s eyes showed her surprise. 

“You should know best that still waters run deep.” Sakura said, alluding to Temari’s own soul mate, Shikamaru, who was the definition of placid on the surface. Temari grimaced and nodded, understanding. 

Kankuro snorted. “Drama queens, both of them, then?”

“I’m not telling. Can we discuss something else?” Her demand made the Siblings look at each other then do as she asked. She knew they weren’t done with the topic at all. She hadn’t missed Temari’s eyes narrowing at her denial of them hurting her physically. She had probably figured out exactly what had happened from her words of denial than anything else. Damn her for being so damned smart. Good thing Shika was just as intelligent or Temari would have been bored to death by her soul mate. 

****

“Kensai, can you deliver these reports to the poisons department, please?”

The teenager nodded, bobbing her head happily. Most of her friends were in that department. “Can I bring you anything for lunch?”

Sakura looked up at the clock, wondering if it was better to discuss Kensai’s future or be seen amongst her now loyal interns and nurses. “How about you get something for the both of us. We need to chat about your apprenticeship.” 

The 14-year old bobbed her head again, brown buns flopping with the motion, her eyes, one green and one brown flashing with excitement. Sakura chuffed in amusement at her as the girl ran out the door do complete her tasks. With a month to go before she headed back to Konoha, the girl had recovered well from the betrayal of her supervisors and trainers at the hospital. She instinctively controlled the rush of rage at the memory of what she had ran into, lured by the spikes in her apprentice’s chakra, completing the code to call for help Sakura had taught her. 

She had had to restrain herself from killing all 12 of them. She had noticed that some had only watched. Over half had been helping, willing or not. It had taken all she had to not simply turn their bodies into a fine spray of red blood and powdered bones. Luckily her higher brain functions had returned after the initial lunge and she had merely debilitated them. Some permanently. They deserved it. While disabling the attackers, she had sent her chakra through them in a quick scan to check to see who had the best vision that would not fade with age in the near future. Then she had happily plucked it as a replacement for her apprentice, having seen Kensai’s original soft brown eye had been crushed and torn in half, aqueous humour soaking into the sand. 

An eye for an eye and all that. She was sure Kakashi would approve. Though she made damn sure to check that there were no doujutsu in that eye. 

The door opened to her office after a short knock. Kensai came in with a tray of sushi, miso soup and a chickpea stew and flatbread. Thank the Shinigami the kitchen had stopped only making spicy curries. “Thank you, Kensai-chan.” 

“No problem, Sakura-shisou.” Sakura shook her head slightly at Kensai’s suffix for her, amazing still, after the attack six months ago, she still wanted to be a medic in Suna once she finished her apprenticeship. She sighed again, counting the months. It had been 14 months since she had left Konoha and she missed it. She missed Ino and their gossip/sniping, the green grass and all the trees, the moisture on the wind, Tsunade, Kakashi and...even her boys. She missed Naruto and Sasuke dearly. 

After Naruto had sent Gaara a letter blabbing everything and the Sand Siblings had talked to her that day in the office four months ago, they had decided to tell Tsunade to not allow Naruto and Sasuke to visit even if the Godaime finally relented and let them go. Sakura-san had work to do and did not need the distraction, the letter had said. It had been implied that massive property damage would occur if this was disobeyed, and Suna did not need that either. She had sent the boys a letter to tell them to shut up and they would discuss all of this when she got back and not a moment before. 

And Gaara had increased their meetings and then somehow managed to wrangle her into rather frank discussions about the soul mate business, occasionally asking Temari to join. She had resented it at the time, and had nearly beaten up Gaara at the beginning...several times in fact, but now looked back to appreciate how they had made her talk about it with them. Oddest therapy sessions she had even been a part of though. 

But he was properly terrified of her now that she had proven that her inhuman strength could utterly demolish his sand armor with one hit and leave him unconscious for a few hours. 

Kankuro, never the most subtle, had abducted her occasionally after her hospital shifts to teach her how to use his puppets. Then he had surprised her by giving her small puppets in the shape of spiders and ladybugs. All were decked out in poison mists and blades dipped in poisons. She may or may not have squealed like a five year old and then demonstrated her appreciation most enthusiastically right there on the training ground. At least it had been his ass bare in the hot sand and not hers. 

She picked up the letter from Ino that had arrived that morning, detailing how (one her ambassador visit after the whole letter debacle in Gaara's office) Temari had hunted Sasuke and Naruto down on one of the training grounds (and there was no way in hell Ino would not not trail after the older woman around and given many verbal encouragements during this) and showed them exactly a wind mistress could do. Ino had even helped along with Shikamaru. Ino had called it a fun training exercise that led to half of the shinobi (who probably owed their lives or a family member's life to Sakura at this point due to her healing abilities) in Konoha glaring at the boys. It had been Kakashi who finally got everyone to lay off the boy’s backs. Apparently he even offered to sell the memory of when Sakura would surely beat their asses into the ground when she got back for being such insensitive dicks in exchange for things going back to normal. Damn Sharingan. But it had been needed; the boys hardly needed more of a reason to suddenly disappear and confront her. At least they had finally stopped sending pulses of strong mutual emotion through the link at her, trying to get her attention or encourage her to come home sooner. 

“So, you sure you want to be apart of the madhouse that is Konoha? Even if is only for a year or two?”

“Yes, shisou. I can’t wait to try the different foods your village has!”

Sakura laughed, her soul feeling light and strong as she had slowly become familiar with over the past year or so she had been here. Looking back she sometimes wondered how she made it through the day a she was when she arrived. She may not be the most powerful shinobi on the planet like her boys and few others may be, but she was an S-rank shinobi in her own right and now well adjusted to finish things off. Her mental and emotional strength had increased to near frightening levels, wrought by her determination to be the best she could be as a person, not necessarily as a shinobi. 

The fact that her increased confidence, strength, focus and clarity had only made her battle strategizing and skills all the more formidable was merely a happy coincidence or side effect. 

She sat back, picking at the food happily with her young apprentice (ok, she was only about 5 years younger than her, but she looked tiny most days) as she explained more about Konoha and what the girl could expect living there and training under her in a completely new environment. She wasn’t letting the girl go until Kensai could survive a fight against a high A rank shinobi and had the chakra precision of a fine filleting knife. She would take Kensai out on missions as well, to build her experience so that when she came back to Suna she could take over the hospital.

It would be a tough road, but both her and Kensai were looking forward to it. She couldn’t wait to go home.


	9. In which she comes home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh at last I have time. This might be a short one. I may even edit this later. not sure.

Of course it was the Terror Twins waiting to greet them when they got to the gates of Konoha. Izumo and Kotetsu anyway; she didn’t want to deal with the actual twin twats just yet. Preferably not until she ate and showered. The world was better with a shower. She was so looking forward to having no more sand stuck between her butt cheeks. Or her cleavage.  
She was dying for that shower. So much now. She felt someone poke her arm and she looked down at the offending jabber, seeing Kensai-chan staring at her in amusement. She might have been drooling at the idea of a hot shower. Or cold. Any shower. Much water. Much water on body please. She snapped back to reality and glared at the Twins who were hooting in laughter. 

“Shut up, you nasty evil little chunins. You’d want a shower after a year and nearly a half in the desert too.”

This only made them laugh harder for about a minute before Izumo spoke up, “a shower? We thought you were totally daydreaming about something else.”

She only rolled her eyes at them before cracking her knuckles, enjoying the mild flinch they gave at the noise. The trading of vaguely nervous glances was simply so much sweeter. “Are you going to finish signing us in or not? I have to bring my apprentice to Godaime-sama to-gurk!”

Sakura hadn’t expected to be nearly tossed off her feet by the glomping of her best friend. The flash of platinum blonde hair nearly whapping her in the face was the only indication it was Ino who was behind the attack, as quickly as she had appeared. “Gahk! Pig! What the fuck? When did you get so fast?”

Ino was an incoherent mass of chirps, sobs, wails, squeals and hysterical muttering. The answer came from a near monotone voice that was perched upon the gate keeping shelter. Kensai flinched in surprise and found the voice first. Sakura rolled her eyes and patted Ino’s head. 

“Kensai-chan, this is Sai. He taught me a few assassination techniques and the like. He’s also Ino’s....wait a minute, did you know the entire time you emotional block of wood?”

“Yes.”

Sakura sighed. “Of course. And can I assume you taught her how to finally move her fat ass?” She let out a whoof of air as Ino interrupted her exclamations of joy and misery to punch her in the ribs (well, she had improved her punching strength as well-she should leave more often to come home as surprised as she is now) then resume grinding her forehead in Sakura’s cleavage. She hoped Ino got sand burn. It was nearly as bad as rug burn.

“It took much time, but Beautiful finally did so.”

Ino interrupted her welcoming home to screech at Sai before falling back onto Sakura to start wailing about the unfairness of soulmates. “Dumbass.”

“Thank you, Ugly.”

She glared at him before glancing at her apprentice. Ah yes, sweet revenge. “Hey Kensai, the day you kick this guys ass is the day I let you lead a mission as testing to see whether or not you can lead the Suna hospital.” 

Sai opened his mouth to retort but the sudden movement, the snapping of the apprentice’s head towards him and the narrowing of all her focus upon his person made him gulp. The combination of her mismatched eyes and the nearly overwhelming amount of determination in her eyes would have frozen him, killing intent leaking from her mildly, if he was less than the perfect assassin and infiltrator that he was. 

Instead he grinned, taking the challenge, wondering if she was much like her master. “Lesson one, Miss Normal, catching said assassin.” he body flickered off, Kensai’s muscles twitching slightly and looking to her shisou. She smiled at her, nodding off in the direction he left, her apprentice’s body disappearing off after him near instantly. 

The Terror Twins were still snickering. It was their sounds of amusement and Ino’s continuous wails of the unfairness of life (why couldn’t she have been matched with some foreign cutie? Or even Chouji?) that left the clearing from feeling suddenly empty as her near perpetual shadow disappeared off to go pass another assessment. She would fail of course, but hey, they still grew up so fast these days. Sakura rolled her eyes and patted her friend on the back, slowing duck walking her towards the administration building where her own Shisou was waiting. 

***

Once again she was engulfed. This time it was her face stuck in someone’s cleavage. Thank Kami for no sand. Breathing was required though. She grumbled into the vaguely sake smelling robes and skin beneath her nose and squeezed back, cracking some ribs nearly, causing Tsunade to laugh and let her go. At least her cheeks weren’t being pinched. Drunk Tsunade cheek pinching was painful. 

“Shisou-sama.”

“Tosh, Sakura, I am so glad to see you again. Shizune will be the only one happier than I, and that’s because she’s been doing your job for the past year and a bit.”

Sakura smiled, her entire face softening at the look of love and worry and regard in her master’s eyes. “And I cannot wait to be back in such a well oiled machine. Work here will be like a vacation compared to Suna. And showers. I miss showers.”

“That hint is not at all subtle.” Tsunade looked over her apprentice now equal and nodded her head in satisfaction. “Got it all sorted out then, what you needed to do?”

Sakura groaned. “And you call me not being subtle. Yes, I am better. It took me time, but I have come to terms with everything and worked to improve myself. In every way, Shisou. My mental, emotional and combat prowess has all increased during my time in the harsh sands of Suna.”

Tsunade nodded, the sannin looking over her more closely. She had noticed something was wrong, but had not imagined in a million years that it would have been what it was. Triads were so rare after all, and even now she admonished herself for not seeing it sooner. But the fragility in her near-daughter’s gaze had disappeared, and only strength, passion and determination remained. She had left near broken, shattered, and returned seemingly whole. At least on her side. Whether or not that translated to her two soul mates or not was another thing entirely. Speaking of which.

“You haven’t seen them yet, I expect?”

“No, I am deadening my side of the link to make them think I am still farther away. I needed to report in and such, and you know those two-once they know I am here, nothing will stop them from seeking me out. And probably causing property damage.”

Tsunade rolled her eyes. The two boys had been driving her up the wall for months now, nearly half a year, if not longer. And she had snapped more than once and punched them both out of her windows. It made her want to hunt down the remaining Akatsuki and finish them off herself just so she could assign them to long term missions to Taki or something. “Can’t say I blame you. Feel free to borrow the Forest of Death. Good place to bury the bodies if they piss you off enough.”

Sakura snorted and rolled her eyes, knowing how much the older woman loved Naruto as a son. “Sure, after I shower though. I have my apprentice on an...errand. May I bring her by in the next couple of days for you to assess?”

“Always making me do all the work-fine. Bring her by the day after tomorrow. If you can walk, that is.”

Sakura blushed at the insinuation. Anyone else but her mother figure saying that...Nuh uh. “And that is my cue to leave. Good day, shisou.” Another hug later she was on her way home, Ino resuming her limpeting and wailing (by now she was simply being dramatic and trying to score free drinks) about her soul mate (the damned emotionless bastard) and the amount of work they had forced upon her (and on top of her usual training for taking over T&I one day) had made her a far better shinobi and medic and she was despairing over it. As if her letters as infrequent as they had been had not already covered all these points. 

Sakura merely smiled and brushed her hand over her friend’s shoulder, relishing the physical contact with her best friend again. Two hours later she had cleaned up and went to the training ground her team had used as genin and then as chunin. By the time they had reached jounin, they had required a different kind of training ground to suit their needs. 

In the middle of the training ground she sat down, slipping into meditation to center herself. Then she she flared her chakra and emotions. 

They answered the call immediately.


	10. In which it comes to climax

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So long. Like, very long chapter in my opinion. Smut, angst and fluff ahead. And bitch slapping. Also potentially bad summarizing as i am lazy. This sucker is done.

Their bodies hit the meadow floor moments later. A leaf was disturbed by their entrance, but all was still otherwise. 

They looked good. Kami, they looked good. Sasuke had grown out his hair at last, so it hung down past his ears. Naruto’s face was more defined, the last of his baby fat finally gone. She smiled at them, lips wistful and hopeful. Her eyes were angry though, disappointed. Naruto averted his gaze for a moment, shame coiling through the bond. Sasuke did not look away, looking her over carefully, seeing the differences. 

She had changed. 

Her eyes held an easy confidence that had not been there before. Self-assurance radiated from her, even while sitting in a vulnerable position. Her muscles were lax and loose, a sign of relaxation for civilians, but merely a precursor to an attack or defense to a shinobi-relaxed muscles were simply easier for the body to switch to whatever stance needed in an attack situation. It stung-her ease and readiness to defend or attack. She had never been relaxed around them before. She had always been tense, watching, searching. 

At least he now knew for what. He had always wondered why she looked at him and Naruto as if looking for the secrets of the Sharingan. She was in a way. The familiar sensation of emptiness pained his chest, as it had been since she had left for Suna over a year ago. Even sitting in front of them now, she was still unreachable to them. Sasuke scowled. 

“You never said.”

Cool green eyes met his. “You never cared to figure it out.”

Naruto finally overcame his muteness. “How can you say that? We love you Sakura-chan, we always have!”

His voice reverberated through the clearing. Her gaze shifted and softened slightly. “Yes, you love me. You care for me, more so than any other in this village. But you have never even tried to see beyond the bubble you share with Sasuke. And neither did he. The only reason why you have true friends in this village is because I made sure you did. Once you two realized you wanted each other in Wave, everything else faded in your vision except him. Both of you are incredibly focused, and in this case it went to the extreme.” 

Silence reigned in the clearing. The boys glanced at each other, consideration and awareness tinging their features as they thought over the past. Sakura smiled, bittersweet. Even now they still saw only each other. She could read them because she had over half her life in exposure to them and the link. She wondered if they had changed at all like she had. 

Naruto finally spoke. “And-and if. Yes, we have. But we still want to know why you didn’t say anything.”  
She rolled her eyes. “I made so many hints after the first time in the chunin exams I am surprised no one else figured it out. I stopped hinting at it, setting up situations to try to make you both realize it when we became jounin. I focused on other things, believing you did not want me. That you did not think enough of me.”

“How could we not love you? You are our teammate! Our best friend, our medic and I actively try to forget the times where there was not an ‘us’ in my life. Before our team the world felt colourless and cold. Nobody even explained the soul mate link to me until Iruka-sensei did a year before we graduated. I just thought I was crazy or reacting to the villager’s scorn of me badly as a child. It was after that when I tried to find my soulmate, happy that at least someone understood me, that someone else felt so lonely and painful. That I would be accepted!” 

Sakura smiled at him, aching to touch him, to comfort him. His grief and confusion screamed through the link, bringing tears to her eyes. 

“I didn’t want one.” Sasuke spoke, his eyes looking anywhere but at his soul mates. “After Itachi...I did not want one. I tried to block out the link, not wanting anymore of the-the emotions. I just wanted to be left alone. After Naruto and I kissed, I could not block him anymore. He wore me down, with his emotions breaking that barrier I had placed as a child and I could not give them up. But I never felt you. Not once. Why?”

Naruto nodded, wanting to know why as well. Sakura felt like slapping them. So she did, her body moving in a blur that even they could not dodge. Two harsh thwacks echoed in the clearing and they stumbled back from the force of her purely physical slaps. “You idiots! Do you two have any idea how loud and strong and wild your emotions are in the link? Mine are literally a footnote compared to yours. I may have been lonely as a child, bullied as well, but it was relatively peaceful and happy compared to both of yours. Do you have any idea what I had to put up with from both of you on a daily basis? And I still do! Neither of you have even learned the idea of emotional control; you just blare things about as loud and flashily as your combat jutsus as if it’s a competition! Of course you never felt mine despite my best efforts, you were too busy being mired in your own emotions while I felt them and tried to find solutions to make them go away!” 

They both looked at her as if she was insane. Or about to kill them. Either way there was awe and fear in their gazes. Considering she had been shrieking for the last few moments, she supposed it was warranted. 

She could swear she heard a snicker. She reached out with her chakra slightly and felt the vaguest impressions of two sources nearby. Within hearing range if you augmented your senses with chakra. Great, they had spectators. She didn’t even blink, slamming down her heel into the earth, splitting a deep, wide crevasse that caused several ‘forest animals’ to jump out of the way in fear. One lost control of its chakra during the fright and the squirrel became the blushing Kiba. A rock shook and snorted, poofing out to become Ino. “What, did you really think we were going to miss this, Forehead?”

She was going to kill them all. Or defect back to Suna. At least they were all properly terrified of her. 

She rolled her eyes and adjusted her gloves, “whatever. I’m done here.” the boys finally left their stupor at finding they had been watched all this time (they were in a shinobi village, come on! This happened on a daily basis, Sakura was sure) while getting bitch slapped by their female teammate. 

“Wait, Sakura-chan, you haven’t explained why you left!” Naruto glomped onto her shoulder for a second before she shoved him off without any effort, sending him stumbling back five feet.

“WHY? Why do I have to explain? You chose each other exclusively, I chose to leave before I lost all that remained of me! Do you have any idea how much you two ripped my self-esteem apart with your callous words and idiocy? I had to leave to remember who I was and why I was amazing and that-that is unacceptable! I love you both, I always will, but you two are not good for me as you are right now; as selfish, idiotic blind fools!” 

She stared at them, shaking her head, voice finally lowering as she finished, “you’re not even good for each other right now-not healthy. You two have a lot to figure out. In fact, I would recommend therapy. You two were broken pieces before you even met, and just tried to shove the jagged edges against each other hoping it would fit and fix it all. Newsflash boys, it didn’t. Both of you are still broken. Shinobi as a rule are fucked up, but usually said fucking up occurs after time on the job; not as a precursor.”

She shook her head again. “Think about it. Talk to Shizune and Ino’s dad about some of this. They know what to do. I did it myself, with help from the Sand Siblings. But as it is now, I am your teammate. Nothing more. I won’t undo all my hard work and progress to go back into a toxic relationship again. I have an apprentice to train and keep alive now, to make sure she can take over Suna’s hospital. I have my life, and it will not be centered around you two as it was before.”

Naruto stared after her, watching her turn away from them yet again, the unfamiliar self-assurance and peace in her eyes nearly frightening him in its alienness on her face. It wasn’t bad. The part of him that wasn’t distraught and angry was beaming in joy, laughing and wanting to hug her with congratulations and love for her accomplishments.  
But that was only a small part of him right now, the majority of his mind and emotions were filled with grief, rage, uncertainty and loss. He could feel the new side of her link, muted and calm and thrumming with her steady emotions. How could he have missed her before? How could he not have been aware of her steady presence despite her outward appearance of emotions and fits of whacking them over the heads when they were been utter morons? Did the three of them mesh that well together? That close in body, vicinity and mind that he simply had only thought her emotions were his and Sasuke’s alone? How could he have been so blind?

“Sakura-chan!” his body before his mind caught up, intent on being beside her, never feeling that emptiness again. His hand landed on her shoulder, increasing with crushing pressure unintentionally, intent of dragging her around to face him, to make her understand how damned sorry they were; how they had been such self-absorbed idiots and they did treasure her as a person a friend and teammate. Merely afraid of shoving his and Sasuke’s bond in her face so much since she had yet to find her own soulmate. They had snuck away together often, not wanting to rub it in, but had missed the most important part of their bond by doing so, and what’s more, had nearly destroyed their friendship with her. 

Her slight shriek caught him by surprise and for a second, only his mind was focused on the sound of pain then transferred to horror, realizing his mistake too late. Sasuke was right behind him, whispering how much of an impulsive idiot he was and Naruto could not agree more right now and then-pain. Blinding pain and agony and hurt and disappointment and rage. So much rage. Years of aching, painful rage and frustration ripped through him, spilling over from the link between the triad and filling him with its weight, crushing him under the emotions. He gasped, frozen, unable to even twitch, as the emotions pressed down on him and his natural chakra as if it was the killing intent from Orochimaru himself. 

His fingers were suddenly bent backwards, feeling the delicate bones snap, before his wrist was grasped and he was thrown over her shoulder in a blur of movement he could not have seen coming from the female of his team. When the hell had she gotten so fast?

Sasuke moved in, intent on subduing her before she laid into Naruto further from where he landed 15 feet away. Her elbow blocked his attack, throwing his hand away from him an arc and her wrist snapped up, narrowly missing his nose as he leaned back quickly. Her shin met his foot, blocking the reflexive kick and she slid her leg up, hooking his ankle with hers to throw him off balance and swivel him around as she wound up her other arm to throw a haymaker at the back of his head. He ducked, folding his body in half, and rolling backwards over a shoulder to gain distance from those deadly fists, knowing she could crush bone with even a glancing blow.

He didn’t manage to avoid her chakra knives though. Saskura probably had the finest chakra control in the world at this point in time, and could easily create a chakra armour around her body if need be, making her nearly indestructible as long as she was careful, making her a worthy sparring partner to Naruto’s heavy hammer punches and strikes he favoured; they all knew that and so did the Bingo Book. What they didn’t know was that she had learned how to modify her chakra scalpels from the standard inch or so beyond the fingertips to the ability to create small blades, increasing the distance of her attacks, cutting through muscle and tendons and organs with ease while leaving the skin unblemished above. 

The blue chakra had coalesced into a curved blade, resembling Asuma’s old chakra channeling blades, but this one looked more like a hawk’s beak. It formed from far side of her hand in a reverse strike blade, and was nearly 9 inches long. His sharingan was able enough to see it form in less than a second, see it blur towards his retreating limbs as he ducked low but he had no ability to avoid the attack, in mid air as he was. 

As it was, he substituted himself with a torn log across the field, but it was too late, when he landed his right arm and leg were useless, and he hissed, knowing she had sliced through the tendons attaching his triceps to his elbow and the front thigh muscles from the knee. He flopped down on the ground without dignity, his mind awhirl with the speed she had just shown. She had been faster than the Sharingan had been able to process and allow him to react. How-when had she gotten so fast? 

“Idiots.” His head snapped back towards her, barely hearing her across the field. Naruto was still on his back, staring over his shoulder in awe at her attack on both himself and Sasuke. Not, not attack, her defense over their attack. Shame curled in his gut, remembering the cry of pain she had made at Naruto’s unintentionally too tight grasp. She was their soulmate and they had HURT her. Were they fated to unintentionally rip her apart with their emotions and behaviour? Is this how Orochimaru had felt?

Is this why he had left his Triad so many years ago? Did Orochimaru think that he would be easy to manipulate because he thought Sasuke was a younger version of him? The Sannin should have targeted Sakura in that case. 

Sakura sighed and felt her chakra finish repairing the damage, the grinding of her rotator cuff muscles into the bone had been painful, stressing her ligaments and tendons, nearly spraining one or two. She could feel the shock and horror from Naruto and knew he had not intended it, but she was still pissed and hurt that it had happened anyway. She was not surprised though. He often forgot Kurama, that the fox always enhanced him when he was feeling strong emotions. She was still pissed though. 

“Absolute idiots. You twits may be the strongest in our village, but I am less than a step behind. Your flashiness had always been subdued by my skills and despite what you might think of me being only able to smash rocks, I am goddamned subtle when need be and would have made an amazing assassin whereas you two would cock it up beyond belief.”

Sasuke processed the words, only able to sputter out, “you were faster than my sharingan? How?”

She rolled her eyes. “Sasuke, believe it or not I didn’t just fuck Lee, I also sparred and trained with him as much as I could, even with Gai. Hell, I have defeated both using just taijutsu alone a few times. Of course I could move faster than you. And my chakra knives are more than capable of making up for any slight differences in speed the Sharingan allows you with reflexes. I have been able to deflect and fight you like I just did for some time, but merely did not. I stopped walking in both of your shadows over a year ago. AND NEITHER OF YOU NOTICED!” 

They both heard a snicker, Kensai, her apprentice being the source from where she was standing next to Ino and Sai. “Dumbasses, thinking Sakura-shisou would be easy pickings.” She giggled again, her mis-matched eyes alight with mirth and pride. Sakura’s face contorted into bemused amusement. 

“Did you catch Sai?”

Kensai shook her head, her smile dropping a bit as she smirked. “No, but I got kinda close before he shunshined us here to watch the fireworks.”

“She never got closer than I allowed her, Miss Normal is still useless at this. Nearly as useless as Dickless is at sex.” Kensai rolled her eyes and attempted to stamp on his foot, but Sai easily side stepped her. 

Salkura rolled her eyes as well before holding out a hand to beckon her apprentice to her side. “C’mon, time to show you my place and get you situated with the neighborhood. Ino, Sai, coming with?”

They nodded walked to her as if the short fight had not just occurred between the Triad. Sakura took Kensai’s hand once she reached her and prepared to shunshin away. Naruto’s cry stopped her. 

“Wait, Sakura, we’re not done!”

She looked over her shoulder at him, glaring. “Actually, we are. Think about what I said earlier for while. A long while. I have things to do, a hospital to run and an apprentice to train. I have no time for your dramatics. Once you’re ready to talk like adults and admit your wrongdoings, then we will. I have taken myself off of Team Kakashi for the next six months to catch up on my work here in the village. Use that time for some therapy and hard introspection boys.”

A low voice, tinged with fear came from in front of her. Sasuke. “You’re leaving us.”

Her eyes softened slightly. “No. Never. But I will not be your doormat medic of a team mate anymore. Get your priorities straight then we will discuss us then. Talk to Inoichi-san like I suggested. You two have work to do before you are worthy of me.”

The quartet disappeared in a blur of motion as the shushin activated and took them to Sakura’s apartment. 

The remaining spectators dispersed, leaving only Yamato and Kakashi. The latter ambled over to them, his book making an appearance for the first time since he hid himself in the clearing. “Come on boys, lets get you two healed up. Then Yamato and I will bring you over to T&I to talk to Inoichi.”

Sasuke accepted his hand to pull him to his feet. “Already?”

The dark eye of his old sensei now team leader met his, shining in repressed anger and cool disappointment. “Do you want her back or not?”

“Yes.” Naruto came up behind them, Yamato meeting them partway through the clearing as he spoke up, “then you have a lot to make up for and work to do then.” 

Kakashi smiled through the mask, his voice almost chilling. “I don’t think you two deserve her. No one does. But if she still wants to try to make your triad work, then so be it.”

Sasuke glanced at his teacher shrewdly. “Not even you deserve her?” Naruto squawked at the implication. 

“Hell no.” Kakashi looked down at his book then, the topic closed on his side. 

It was silent for a few moments before Naruto’s sad whisper was heard. “Did everybody have her but us?”   
Yamato’s fist struck him on the back of the head in a flash, anger suffusing his features, making his face seem way scarier than usual to Naruto. “Don’t you dare, Naruto, you had-no, still have no right to judge her or make demands on her behaviour. You never will. Soul mate you may be, but she is her own person who decides what she does alone. You two may be used to ordering each other around, but she will never allow you to do the same to her so you better get used to that.”

The blonde protested, squawking angrily. “I didn’t mean it like that! I meant her trust and openness. Not necessarily sex wise.”

“Dobe, I think your pissed that she has way more sexual experience than us.”

“Yeah, well…How are you not?”

“I-just because we have only ever been interested in each other...she did not have that, our regard for her as such. I would have preferred if she had been ours alone, but she is not.”

“It’s always bugged you that she has had sex rather indiscriminately, Sasuke, don’t try to lie to me. That’s why you used to insult her over it when we were still chunin.”

“You two are absolutely clueless.” Yamato sighed and shook his head, picking up his pace to walk along side Kakashi, closing the subject. The two former ANBU met each other’s eyes and rolled them together. Kids. 

***

Kensai is a marvel. And marveled by the sights, scents and tastes of Konoha. 

She soaked up the new sights and experiences like a sponge and begged for more. It was exhausting Sakura, something Sai picked up on and decided it was time to train again with the young one. He had unceremoniously picked her up and tossed her out the window, following with a remark saying she was still too slow and breathed too loud to catch him. 

Sakura half expected him to shout something about ’YOUTH’ and shook her head. “Please tell me how you met him. I am literally dying to know-Temari couldn’t get anything out of Shika when she was here a few months ago.”

Ino winced, “he showed up in my room one night. Went on about how my emotions were distracting him during missions and if I could please learn how to turn them off like he did it would be great. Something about how when we were younger it was easier to ignore as they were shallow and fluffy like clouds and now they seem to be deeper and more intense like a waterfall or river or whatever the hell he said. ”

“Bet that went well.” Sakura remarked with a smirk. Inwardly she couldn’t help but wonder at the choice of words Sai had apparently used. She knew that Ino had changed with Asuma’s death, but for her emotions to even shift and become, if she dared to think it even in her friend’s presence, more mature. That was alarming in its own right. 

“Oh yeah, first here I thought my soul mate was dead. Then I learn he’s a robot. Yeah, it went great. Then he had the gall to ask if I liked the nudes sketches he had left for me a couple years back-remember when I found those pictures of me bathing and dressing and sleeping? Yeah, that was him leaving me gifts apparently. Creeper.”

Sakura couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing. That sounded exactly like something Sai would do. They had all thought Ino had had a stalker. Guess they were right. “Please tell me you kicked his ass.”

“I tried. So tried. Too damned fast and skilled at Taijutsu for me to do so. He left after my attempt before my father burst in through my bedroom door. Then he came back a week later to taunt me and I kept trying to kick his ass. He ended up showing up once a week or so unless on a long term mission for a while, then started showing up nearly every day a few months back. Now I can’t get rid of him. At least I managed to punch him last week.” Ino happily crowed, taking another swig of her drink. 

“Ah, so he’s the one responsible for your improved speed and ability in fighting. Good for you.”

“Shut up, forehead. I am not thanking him at all any time soon.”

“Before or after the wedding?”

“Like fucken hell I’m marrying him”

“But have you fucked him?”

Ino rolled her eyes and took another drink of her sangria. “No. The boy doesn’t seem to know how to do anything. He looks at me all intense but does not touch me except during a spar.”

Sakura side long stared at her friend before taking a drink of her own glass. “Do you want him to?”

Ino snorted and waved a hand. “I would have already made a damned move if I wanted him between my thighs right now. As it is, forget it. If we ever do anything it’ll be a while in the future.” She winced remembering, “although, he’s certainly handy at being a cock block. He somehow seems to show up right when I’m trying to pick someone up for the night and irritate me. I haven’t gotten laid in months! I may pin him down soon for the sex relief if this keeps up.”

“He stops you from taking others home?” Sakura frowned, that didn’t sound like Sai. Dick he was, but never seemed to interfere in other’s lives unless he thought it would endanger them. 

“No, no. It’s more like he takes all my attention away by being an idiot, therefore by being himself, and I forget about my conquest. I told him to back off once with one guy I really liked and he did so without hesitation. It was the other guy that finally turned me down saying it didn’t feel right. As if. Asshole.” 

“Which one?”

“Both, definitely both.”

They laughed together and caught up more. Sakura ended up making up the sofa for Kensai to tide her over until she cleaned out an area to make into a room for the apprentice before shoving Ino out her door so she could get some sleep. She needed it after the clusterfuck of emotions she went through today. The boys weren’t helping any, considering their guilt, anger, shame and fear had rolled through the link all day. 

She hoped it would stop soon. 

***  
Months went by and the boys finally started to grow a brain. It helped that they had Inoichi to talk them through it and rustle through their heads as well. The older and far more experienced man had certainly ripped them a new one in his own way. His brutal honesty through the therapy sessions (even if Sasuke refused to call them that) had knocked some sense into them and made them realize a few things. 

Kami, they were absolute idiots. They knew that now. 

Shikamaru kept giving them pitying glances when they saw him and it pissed them off. Unfortunately Temari had been there when Naruto finally had enough and grabbed Shikamaru by his vest to yell at him. That fan was really fucken heavy and had left quite the lump on his head. Sasuke had snorted at him when he had finally woken up and told him it was his own fault. The woman was a master at swinging object at people for maximum effect, he informed his blonde soul mate, hadn’t Naruto noticed the strap and paddle marks on Shikamaru’s back before?

Naruto was sufficiently traumatized. 

They saw glimpses of Sakura through the village. While she was shopping, while they needed care after a mission in the hospital-she never tended them but sent her apprentice instead or Shizune, while she hung out with the Rookie 9 and while she trained her apprentice. She hadn’t left the village once during that time, busy with re-taking over the hospital, arranging for exchange programs with Suna and training her apprentice. 

Once they had seen her with Lee and the flares of hot jealousy had coursed through them and into her side of the link. She had not even paused in her date with him, merely shut down her link section so thoroughly that it made them ache with fear that she was dead despite the fact that they could see her in front of them only a few hundred meters away. 

Inoichi had explained to both of them later in a session that they had absolutely no domain her or her body despite being her soul mates. The few Triads on record had often ended up being platonic, seeking other partners outside the tightly knit groups. The fact that she wanted them both physically and that they had been near obsessed with each other had been irregular. The fact that the obsession for each other had now grown to include her was nearly concerning. As Inoichi had said, “its as if you two are children with toys. Once you have them you cannot let them go or share them due to your past traumas, abandonment and neglect in your childhoods. There’s nothing wrong with being protective and caring, but the level of obsession and possessiveness you two experience is not healthy.”

Slowly they were learning to stop being so reliant on each other, much less on Sakura. Slowly they calmed and learned and processed each other and themselves. Inoichi sometimes gave Sakura vague updates. He could only watch with a certain amount of trepidation for her as she would smile pensively and look out the window with hope. Hope that her boys would finally be happy with out each other as they were with each other. Like she was. 

***

Nearly a year after her arrival to Konoha, Sakura let Kensai go on her first mission as an ANBU medic, it was a simple one but she was still worried. The fact that Sai was on the team was not a coincidence at all. The former ROOT member had grown fond of the brat that he called Miss Normal. 

Sakura finished signing the last of the forms she had for the day; the hospital was running smoothly, and Tsunade, unsurprisingly, had put her in charge of the Suna medical training exchange program. With six months of exchange under their belts, it was considered wildly successful. The fact that Kumo and Kiri were now courting Sakura’s and Tsunade’s favour for similar exchange programs was only helping the newly established alliance the three held against the threat of Akatsuki. There were only a few members left alive of that group, after all hidden villages had combined fire power to take down the duo’s they traveled in. Although they had not gone after Pein after Jiraiya nearly died infiltrating the organizations lair and had required saving. With the information they had received from the now one armed spymaster (‘thank Kami it’s not my writing arm missing,’ he often proclaimed!) they were planning a final assault to dismantle the Akatsuki. 

She put down her pen and thought about that. If all things went well, then this would all be over within a few months. Or they would all be dead. Her heart thudded in anxiety and fear for her soul mates. Naruto and Bee were the primary targets, of course, but to expect Sasuke to stay out of the fight was ridiculous, despite the fact that he was still recovering mentally and physically from helping take down Kisame and his older brother. She could lose both of them. And so soon.

Mind made up she wrote out a note and made an earth clone to go deliver it while she prepped and went shopping. She had a lot to prepare for the evening. The boys were back in the village and off the list for a few days after their last mission and with Kensai gone, it was the best time to have them over and talk. 

***

Of course talking had not occurred. She didn’t know why she bothered to make plans these days. 

Of course words had been exchanged, its not like they had walked in and she had immediately started stripping them or beating them up (both very tempting thoughts now of course, in hindsight) but the long discussion over a meal had simply not occurred. 

For once they seemed to realize their issues and had happily (Naruto was happily chirping about it anyway, Sasuke remaining mostly quiet) told her their progress and realizations. You would think that would take a while to get that conversation started, but they had simply walked in the door at her call for them to enter and had started the listing of their faults and how they were working to correct them. Despite his happy demeanor, she could see Naruto’s intent in his eye; the determination that made him absolutely deadly on a battlefield. His tone was light and pleased that she had instigated the contact outside of their social meetings, but his stance was serious, his body tense. She sighed with relief halfway through his diatribe, at least he finally understood. She needed to send Inoichi a fruit basket for this. 

She cocked a hip at her boys, “well, I must say I’m surprised you two are so open about this. I expected to be practically pulling your teeth in order to get you to speak about your therapy sessions with Ino’s dad.” 

Sasuke spoke up softly, arrogance which would never fade from him-it was as a part of him as his hair colour really. “We would not usually. However you are ours.”

Before she could do much more than raise her eyebrows and maybe started cracking her knuckles due to the fact that apparently they had learned nothing and they were utter morons, Naruto jumped in, waving his hands frantically in front of the both of them and stuttering out an explanation. “Gah! Not like that! Sasuke-teme, really, don’t just say half the sentence. He meant that you are our and we are yours of course, as we are soul mates but we certainly don’t own you in anyway. It just means we can be open with you completely in words and actions and not just emotions like we have been all this time.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto’s back and made his usual sound of approval/derision. “Hnn”. 

“Thank Kami you’re learning diplomacy at last, Naruto.” Quite frankly that was all she could think of to say. She could feel their embarrassment and sincerity along with the near overwhelming amounts of hope and relief through the link and relaxed. They had changed. It had been quite some time in coming, and it wasn’t a personality overhaul for either of them; they had simply become more self aware, aware of others and calmer in many ways. They were still the annoying, arrogant, get into trouble, protective twits she had known from her pre-genin years, but they had at last grown up. Considering they were all 20 now, it was about damned time, really.

She nodded firmly at them, interrupting their bickering as they stared at her sudden and decisive movement, the subtle feel of determination and pleasure soaking through their sides of the link from her. They blinked owlishly at the unusually strong emotions coming through. They had learned how to feel the link out more thoroughly, and could now tell apart the different sides of it, but she had always kept it muffled and indistinct.   
Amusement, anticipation and excitement rippled through their awareness as she strode towards them, confidence radiating off of her. Their eyes widened as one at the sight of her as she was then-as if a shutter had been removed from their vision and they saw exactly who she was, what she could be, the raw potential. Sasuke felt pride burst through him unselfishly, happy that someone as strong as she was with them in any capacity they could have her. Naruto was simply so maddeningly grateful for her existence he could barely breathe. 

“Breathe boys,” Sakura ordered, reaching Naruto and tracing his cheekbones and jaw with her calloused fingers. “I expect this newfound awareness and consideration for others to continue. I have no problem making what I did to you two in the clearing in front of everyone seem like a series of lovetaps in comparison to the beatings I will give you for regressing.”

Naruto nodded frantically, unable to take his eyes off of the woman his team mate had become. Sasuke had stepped forward, making a soft noise of assent, hesitating before reaching out to touch one of her hands that was tracing the line of Naruto’s jaw. She curled a stray pinky around one of his inquiring fingers, “Good. How about a small reward for your hard work then, hm?”

Sasuke’s side of the link flared with arousal, hot and thick, first at her promise of a beating, then even more strongly at her words suggesting a reward. Both of his soul mates blinked and looked back at him in surprise. “Huh, well I didn’t see that coming.” 

“Teme, you perv.”

***

Sakira gasped, her jaw dropping open in wonder and sensation. Beneath her, Sasuke’s breath stuttered as she sank onto him, fingers digging deep into her slender hips. Her teeth scraped her bottom lip and she moved over him once to get the feel of him inside her. A chuckle was heard from behind their prone forms, “damn if that’s not the hottest thing I have ever seen.” Sakura rolled her eyes and looked over shoulder, Sasuke following her gaze to meet Naruto’s from where he kneeled behind them, only inches from covering them both.

“Well, dobe? You heard her.”

“Yeah, hurry up, I want to feel you both.”

Naruto groaned, his face contorting at their words. “Damnit, I’m not sure-won’t it hurt you?”

She rolled her eyes and met his, widening her knees to open her stance from behind, Sauke hissing in pleasure at the movement. “Idiot. I am a medic and I know exactly what my body can take. Now hurry the hell up, get some lube and ahhhnn!”

Sasuke’s head head reared up to bite down on her clavicle when Naruto pressed against both of them, rubbing against their delicate flesh as he slid inside carefully and bottomed out. All they could do was gasp at the sensations as both Naruto and Sasuke filled her pussy with their cocks. Sakura groaned at the stretch and arched her back to better angle them together inside her while they grew used to the sensations of being so tightly pressed against each other in every way. 

She dropped her hips slightly and felt Narutos and Sasuke’s glans rub against one another; claws pricked into her skin over her hips, and she felt Naruto’s tsunami of emotions, a riptide and swirl and love, heat, gratitude and sheer wonder poured through the link. 

Sasuke’s breath hitched, ever silent, and his teeth worried at the skin covered bone between his lips as his emotions flared and darted through Naruto’s, heat and an incinerating need making jagged edges to Naruto’s emotions. 

They all gasped as they felt Sakura’s emotions answer theirs in a way it never had before. The usually passive and softly seeking emotions had suddenly shifted, felt heavy and old and timeless as it blanketed theirs, filling in the cracks and edges, solidifying the bonds between them. It encroached upon the boys’ emotions gleefully, encapsulating theirs in heat and protection. 

The boy’s mouths met in a sloppy kiss over her shoulder, seeking comfort in familiarity through the sudden changes in the bond and they dimly heard Sakura snort in amusement and twist her neck slightly to bite at their chins and jaw where their mouths met in reprimand. A tongue licked at their mouths and they shifted to greedily let her in, not caring about the saliva coating their skin as all three tried to kiss each other at the same time. Sakura didn’t know who moved first, but they became a mass of shifting muscle and bone, gasps and moans punctuating their short, hard thrusts, grinding against each other as nails fought for purchase in skin and on the bed. Their movements were short and primal as the sensations and emotions flooded through the link, creating a feedback system that pitched them towards completion faster than Sakura thought possible. 

Naruto let out a stuttering cry, burying his face in the back of Sakura’s neckand hair as the orgasm slammed through him, leaving him breathless, gasping and his vision dark as he fought to breathe. He dimly heard Sakura’s pitched whine that turned into a wail of pleasure and Sasuke’s growl as they followed him over the edge. He went boneless, unable to summon any sort of strength. 

Hell, if Akatsuki showed up, they could take him away. He was in no condition to fight at all as contentment and satisfaction and Sakura/Sasuke thrummed through him. Even his back teeth were vibrating. That surely wasn’t normal. 

He decided he didn’t care. He had his soul mates wrapped around him at last and finally-finally the emptiness in his soul felt like it was gone. Years of proving himself, madly fucking Sasuke and most recently learning about himself and accepting what was inside him (and not just Kurama) had filled it slowly, but it had still not felt like just quite enough. It did now. As if hot amber had poured in between the cracks in his soul and heart and had solidified-strengthening him, making him feel utterly accepted and whole for once in his life. He paid no attention to the hot tears he could feel beading down his cheeks and nose, gathering between Sakura’s shoulder blades. 

He could smell salt water in the air and figured he wasn’t the only one overcome at the moment. 

Sasuke breathed in deep, trying to regain his normally steady breath that not even hard battle could truly cause to quicken. And they had barely moved, no long session of vigorous movements; only a desperate rocking as they tried to fuse into one another. He let out a long breath that shook at the end. He hadn’t felt this fulfilled or content since before Itachi had committed the atrocity against his clan. Being with Naruto had brought warmth and a reason for life other than vengeance. But this, this was calm, content and peaceful like it had not been in his life since he was a small child. He blinked twice, trapping moisture in his eyes. The liquid was not from happiness or pain. Relief. Simple relief of knowing he wasn’t alone. He took another deep breath, inhaling his soul mate’s combined scents of sweat, desire and sweat. No one would ever rip this from him. Not even his own stupidity. Not while he drew breath. 

Sakura could only smile at her boys, at the emotions they were feeling. She reached out and wrapped theirs in her own, her arms following suit. She didn’t cry, or even have unshed tears pooling in her eyes like Sasuke did. She had cried enough over them in the past and that was that. All she could do was smile. 

They would settle, become accustomed. It would be an easier and more difficult relationship soon. They would fight and scream and probably she would send them through a few walls in the future. But they would have this. They would have their companionship, understanding, knowledge and their devotion for each other. And they would use that to destroy anyone who tried to rip it from them. 

The Akatsuki wouldn’t know what hit them. 

Sakura resolved with ease to keep it light, to keep their new change in the relationship from becoming the desperate obsession that Naruto and Sasuke had had for each other. Honestly, those two needed to date others and see what that was like. She had no intention of being theirs exclusively, not yet anyway. 

They were all young, and it would require some communication to the extreme and so much honesty and probably oversharing (she grinned at this thought, imagining Naruto freaking out over having a date with another girl and the fact that he was attracted to some one else for once. Flailing, flailing would occur and it would be hilarious) to the point of near nausea or hilarity. But that was just fine, as it would settle down. If Sasuke wanted to re-start a whole clan, he needed more than just her for a mother of his children (if she ever felt the urge for one anyway) and she would happily ply him with facts on genetic diversity and hybrid vigour until he saw sense. 

They were each other’s, but they were their own people as well. 

She smiled as she soothed them into sleep, exchanging kisses that were long and soft and filled with tenderness and understanding. 

It was more than enough. 

FIN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: well, that’s done at last. It took me all month to write this inbetween studying and work. I considered (and am still halfway considering) writing little blurbs or vignettes that take place after this so you know what happened to people...but i rather like the near obscurity of this instead. I am sure you can figure out they all pretty much lived happily ever after once Kaguya and Akatsuki were destroyed. 
> 
> And yes, they are not going to be exclusive to each other despite being soul mates. I think that would just stick them back in the rut they were in before with a topping of Sakura (pun?) to round out the sex if that did happen. So polyamory all the way, at least for the forseeable future for these guys-it’s for the mental health, I promise.   
> I wonder if the have IVF or surrogate parents in Naruto ‘verse? It would make so much more sense for reviving a clan than simply marrying one woman.   
> They definitely don’t have bone replacements or else you know Gai would be running around on steel for bones in his legs after whupping Madara’s ass in canon screaming about the YOUTH of metallic legs and trying to convince Kakashi to get some too so they could race evenly.   
> I might be overthinking this. But thank you for staying for this long and hopefully you enjoyed the story! 
> 
> I might be tired, excuse the ramble above. 12 days of work being on call 24/7 is getting to me. this is my excuse if this chapter doesn't make sense.


End file.
